Tempestuous Luck
by CryptoChimera
Summary: At first, Naruto had been excited to travel somewhere new on his training trip with Jiraiya. He thought it would be cool to see new places while also getting further away from the Akatsuki. What he hadn't been expecting was Jiraiya signing him up for some sort of monster slaying school. But since he has no choice, he might as well make the most of it. Beacon would fear his pranks!
1. To Meet New Friends

**So before this starts I want to say something real quick. Naruto will occasionally be using some Japanese terms such as Ero-sennin and the like, because they are a part of his natural language, and English is something that he learned only recently. Besides, saying Tsunade-baachan always just sounds better to me than Granny Tsunade. Am I the only one?**

 **And this is my first story on her, so criticism is welcome, just please be civil about it.**

* * *

 ** _Chapter 1:_**

 ** _To Meet New Friends, Sometimes You have to be Ditched by Old Ones_**

 _'Geez, I can't believe Ero-sennin is making us come to this school when we could be training to learn awesome new jutsus,'_ Naruto Uzumaki thought to himself as folded his arms in front of him. Using his reflection in the giant glass window, Naruto tried to make his hair at least a little neater and attempted to straighten his jacket, not wanting to look like he had just gotten out of bed, even if it was technically true.

It had been nearly three years since he and Jiraiya had left the Hidden Leaf Village and begun this training trip. A year into the journey, Jiraiya had decided to take them overseas to train. He said it would get them farther away from the Akatsuki, who Naruto still didn't know too much about other than that they wanted to capture him. The teen, however, was pretty sure that Jiraiya had done this just so that he could peep on more foreign women.

The outside world was much like back home, except there were no ninja villages, no people with chakra, or tailed beasts. Heck, few people even knew what their home was like. Instead, this continent had huntsmen and huntresses, men and women who helped to protect the people from creatures called Grimm, creatures of darkness that were attracted to the negative emotions of humans, like hatred and fear.

Those who wanted to become huntsmen trained for years to become one. In a way, it was similar to how ninjas were trained, except here they taught a lot longer before becoming an official huntsman/huntress. And since Naruto had many of the skills that were taught before a person went to one of the big academies, which were, in Naruto's opinion, essentially colleges that taught courses on killing monsters.

And Jiraiya had decided to sign him up to go to one of these advanced academies. One called Bacon… or was it Beacon? He hadn't looked at the brochures and pamphlets for the place other than few bored glances.

The worse part of this was the fact that Jiraiya had signed him up without talking to Naruto at all about it, saying that it would be a good place for Naruto to hone his skills further. In his opinion, Ero-sennin did it so that he could have more time to do his "research" without Naruto's interruptions.

"Yo, Blondie, what're you thinking about?" A nonchalant voice rang out beside him, and Naruto turned his head to look at the boy who had spoken.

Naruto's blue eyes met the purple eyes that belonged his comrade, Suigetsu. The young man had straight, white hair, with just a slight tint of blue to it. His mouth was closed, but one of his many pointy teeth poked out from the top. He wore a purple sleeveless shirt, and he had a massive blade strapped to his back.

"Hmm, wishing that I could manage to pull a Sennen Goroshi on Jiraiya for sending us to a school. I thought I was done with that when I graduated from the academy," Naruto muttered in reply. "They better have ramen, at least."

"I will never get over your obsession with that food, Naruto," another voice, this one feminine, joined the conversation.

"Don't diss the food of the gods, Karin, dattebayo!" Naruto exclaimed, raising a fist to the heavens to accentuate his statement.

Karin was a girl with bright crimson hair, though she chose to wear it in a very strange style. The right side was shorter and spiky, while the left was longer and straight. Her red eyes held a slightly exasperated expression behind her brown rimmed glasses. She dressed in a lavender jacket that revealed her navel and a pair of black shorts.

"Yeah, Karin, you should know better," Suigetsu said with a mocking tone, partly to annoy the girl, and also because he didn't want Naruto to go off on another one of his infamous "ramen rants."

"Shut it, Suigetsu!" Karin yelled and drove her fist into Suigetsu's head, which promptly turned into water and allowed her hand to pass through with no harm to himself at all.

"Please try not to fight with Karin, Suigetsu. At least not while we're all trapped in this airship."

Naruto spun around to meet with the massive figure of the person who was often a voice of reason and a mediator between Suigetsu and Karin. He had spiky, bright orange hair and eyes of the same color, which Naruto personally thought was awesome. A person could never go wrong with orange.

"Yeah, yeah," Suigetsu replied, "whatever, Jugo."

Naruto grinned at the interaction between the three. He had met them several months into his training. Jiraiya had decided to take Naruto to check out a lead on Orochimaru, hoping to find Naruto's former teammate, Sasuke Uchiha. While they hadn't found Sasuke or the creepy snake Sannin, they had stumbled upon one of his many hidden bases.

Jugo, Karin, and Suigetsu had been there, and Naruto hadn't exactly started off on the best start with them. However, after he ended up getting separated from Jiraiya and releasing several of Orochimaru's dangerous and terrifying animal experiments, Naruto had teamed up with the three to kill the creatures so that they could all survive.

They had learned that they worked well when fighting together, and Naruto had managed to gain a bit of their trust. He even convinced them to leave Orochimaru to travel with him and Jiraiya.

Though they had started off as nothing more than people who were barely allies and were going in the same direction, it didn't take long for Naruto and his boisterous personality to grow on them. And now they were all good friends, even if two of them wouldn't admit to it.

Naruto had even learned through their introductions that he was part of the same clan as Karin, which had come as a bit of a shock since he had no clue that he was part of a clan at all. Jiraiya had had a "fun" time explaining that. Technically, the two of them were just the remnants of their clan, most of the Uzumaki having been killed off years ago. But it was still nice having some family, even if she was probably a very distant relative.

"I suppose the upside to this situation is that I have many more prank targets now," Naruto mentioned with a cackle, making his three companions sweatdrop.

"May God have mercy on their souls," all three said unanimously, feeling sorry for everyone at the school. Each one of them had personally been on the receiving end of one of Naruto's pranks. How he managed to sneak around in such a bright outfit was still a mystery to them. If anything it spoke volumes about his capability as a ninja.

In the next few minutes, the airship approached closer and closer to the school grounds. Naruto continued muttering to himself, coming up with various plans for his pranks. He was going to need a lot of paint and duct tape, lots of duct tape. His first target would probably be that Goodwitch lady who was currently talking to the other passengers by hologram. He just had a feeling that she was a very strict and uptight teacher, and those were his favorite kinds of people to prank. Oh, how the Hyuga clan hated him.

It would take a little bit of more planning and supply collecting for that project, so he would just have to improvise for his first day's prank with what he had brought with him.

Naruto was snapped out of his thought process by a blonde haired guy in simple armor running past him, looking in desperate need of a bag or trash can. Naruto pitied the poor guy, who would have to hold the urge to vomit off until they reached the ground. And if he did lose his stomach contents before then, he better not do it near Karin unless…

Naruto shuddered, unable to finish that thought. Karin was a vengeful person, and very violent when angered. Those two traits were never good together. Individually not as bad, but together it was like gas and fire: explosive.

Luckily, the airship landed without Puke Boy throwing up near Karin, and he was among the first out of the ship. Naruto looked out at the school filled with his new victims and threw his arms up to the sky.

"Ready or not, Beacon, here I come!" Naruto called out with a broad grin, before turning around. "Hey guys, what do you thin-"

He stopped his thought as he realized that his friends were no longer behind him. He moved his head to look for them, with such speed that it would have given many people whiplash, but alas, it would seem that his friends had left him behind.

"I can't believe they left me."

"I can't believe she left me."

Naruto jumped at the voice that rang out next to him, having not noticed the person's presence. It was a girl, who seemed a little young compared to everyone else. She wore a black dress, which had a little red mixed in with the skirt, and a red hood. Her silver eyes were filled with nervousness, making Naruto wonder if she was afraid of crowds. Her hair was a dark red, almost black, that became much more noticeably crimson near the tips.

Remembering what she had said, he questioned, "Friends ditch you too?"

"My sister," she replied sullenly, stroking some sort of weapon attached to her belt. An awkward silence stretched between the two.

"So…" the girl spoke up, trying to think of a good way to start up a conversation other than asking about his weapons, "you new here too?"

"Uh-huh," Naruto answered, before extending his hand to the girl. "Name's Naruto, by the way. Uzumaki Naruto."

"Ruby Rose," she greeted and shook his hand. "Nice to meet you, Uzumaki."

Naruto facepalmed as he forgot one of the ground rules of this place's language. He quickly corrected her by telling her that Naruto was his first name. She began to apologize with a bit of embarrassment, causing her to bump into someone else.

That person was someone who seemed to love the color white almost as much, or perhaps even more so than Naruto loved orange. The girl's hair was so white that it made him question whether it was dyed or if she had been born with it. She wore a white dress that extended a bit past her thighs. However, Naruto's focus soon found itself locked on the scar that crossed one of her blue eyes, making him wonder how she had got it. He also noticed the rapier that she was carrying at her side, and wondered how good of a swordswoman she was. Perhaps she and Suigetsu could get along.

"What do you think you're doing," she snapped at Ruby, and Naruto sweatdropped. Well, that answered his question. He instantly knew that if Suigetsu and this girl ever met, then they would probably be at each other's throats.

"Sorry," Ruby said as she picked herself up from the pile of suitcases that she had crashed into.

"'Sorry'? Do you have any idea the damage you could have caused?"

"Listen, she didn't mean to bump into you. No need to be so angry," Naruto told the snowy-haired girl, picking up one of the suitcases and, noting the strange smell that seemed to be coming from it, sniffed it.

"Give me that!" The case was wrenched from his hands by the livid girl, who opened it up. "This is Dust, mined and purified from the Schnee quarry."

"The what, now?" Both Naruto and Ruby asked in sync. They were met with a hard glare.

"What are you, brain dead? Dust! Fire, water, lightning, energy!" With each word she shook her hand, with a vial of the dust clutched inside it, to add emphasis. A light cloud of dust formed around her, and Naruto noticed that Ruby's nose was beginning to twitch.

"Uh…" she muttered as she tried to take a deep breath.

"Are you even listening to me?" The stuck-up girl, who was beginning to get on Naruto's nerves, continued her rant. "Is any of this sinking in? What do you have to say for yourself?"

Ruby was silent as the dust continued to fly up her nose. Moments later, she sneezed, and an explosion engulfed all three of them, the smoke cloud being filled with ice crystals and lightning, as the bottle of dust went flying.

"Unbelievable!" Their slightly charred aggressor shouted at Ruby, who was pressing her fingertips together in embarrassment. "This is exactly the kind of thing I was talking about!"

"I'm really, really sorry," Ruby told her, and Naruto coughed up a bit of smoke as he tried to rub the soot off of him.

"Ugh! You complete dolt! What are you even doing here? Aren't you a little young to be attending Beacon?"

"Well… I-"

"This isn't your ordinary combat school. It's not just sparring and practice, you know. We're here to fight monsters. So learn to watch where you're going!"

"Hey, I said I was sorry, princess," the younger girl shot back swiftly. Naruto watched the exchange, telling himself not to jump in unless they started to fight with weapons.

"It's heiress, actually," someone spoke up, making three heads swivel to the side. A girl with black hair topped with a bow walked up. She wore a black vest over a white sleeveless undershirt and a pair of white shorts. Her amber eyes had a slight bestial look to them, making Naruto think of the Inuzuka clan back home.

Naruto was glad that someone had managed to step in between the two without fanning the flames even more. Part of the reason he hadn't tried to was that negotiations weren't really something that he excelled at. He was more the type of person to solve things through both force and words.

"Weiss Schnee," the new girl said, pointing at the girl in white. "Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company, one of the largest producers of energy propellant in the world."

"Finally, some recognition." Ruby and Naruto flinched at the harsh glare they received from Weiss.

"The same company infamous for its controversial labor forces and questionable business partners," the other girl continued with a small frown.

Weiss got angry again, though now it was directed at the newcomer. "What? How dare-! The nerve of-"

Ruby snickered, and Naruto also couldn't help but chuckle as Weiss grabbed the bottle of dust and stormed off. He turned to thank the girl who had stepped in but was met with a glare as she walked away.

 _'Geez, someone's got their panties in a bunch. I mean, I'm used to that kind of thing back home, but I haven't even pranked her yet.'_

"You know, we should probably follow them," Naruto told Ruby. "They seem to know where they're going."

Ruby agreed, and the two headed down the path towards one of the large buildings as they began to converse. Ruby started off by asking him what kind of weapons he used.

"I'm not much of a weapons guy; I like using my fists. But if I need them, I have my kunai, shuriken, paper bombs, and special ninja wire."

"My sister's like that," Ruby commented. "She uses gauntlets and usually just punches her way out of trouble."

Naruto chuckled. "Probably one of my favorite strategies. You'll have to introduce me to this sister of yours later. She sounds cool." Naruto looked at the thing at her waist that he assumed was her weapon. "What about you? What's your weapon?"

Ruby grinned and the relatively small thing that she had been carrying transformed into a giant scythe. "Meet Crescent Rose, my best friend in the entire world, not counting my Sis, Dad, Zwei, and Uncle Qrow."

"Whoa. I gotta admit, it's pretty impressive that someone of your size could wield something so big."

"She's also a high-impact sniper rifle. Oh, we've killed so many Grimm together," Ruby said, fawning over her weapon in a way that reminded Naruto disturbingly of Suigetsu. He would definitely get along with this girl, they both seemed to have the same amount of obsession over weapons.

* * *

Yang Xiao Long was wondering what was taking her little sister so long to make her way here. The Headmaster's speech was about to begin, and Ruby had yet to walk through the doors. Thankfully, she saw the unmistakable figure of her sister rush into the room, but to Yang's surprise, she was with someone else. Her weapon loving sister was with another living, flesh and blood human. Yang felt a surge of happiness that Ruby had actually made a friend, even if Yang hadn't expected her sister to.

Yang couldn't also help but notice how good looking her little sister's new friend was. He had an exotic look to him and was unlike anyone she had ever seen. His blonde hair stuck up in all directions, and he had, weirdly enough, three whisker marks on each side of his face. He wore an orange and black jacket and orange pants that were just as bright as his top.

He said something to Ruby before breaking off and rushing towards a group of three on the other side of the room, and Ruby ran over to Yang.

"So how's your day going, little sis?" Yang questioned. "And who was your new friend?"

* * *

"Hey," Naruto shouted, "why did you guys ditch me so soon, -ttebayo?"

Naruto watched as the three shared a look before replying in sync, "We didn't want to be caught up with you if you decided to pull one of your pranks as soon as we arrived."

"But you could have at least said something." Naruto pouted, looking like a wet kitten. He crossed his arms in front of his chest as the headmaster of the school approached the microphone.

The man gave off a feeling that reminded Naruto of the Third Hokage back when he had been alive. He wore dark green clothes, and had grey hair, though Naruto wasn't sure whether it was because of age or not. His light brown eyes held both a gentle warmth and a stern look in them. Naruto tried to remember what his name was but blanked on it. He would just ask Karin afterward.

The man cleared his throat. "I'll keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge. To hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people."

Naruto yawned, having heard a similar speech back in the academy, and beside him, Suigetsu eyes were filled with boredom as he sipped from his water bottle. But the professor wasn't done yet.

"But I look among you, and all I see is wasted energy in need of purpose, direction." Naruto's ears perked at this, surprised by the change of tone. "You assume that knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

He walked off, and that Goodwitch lady told all the new students that they'd be sleeping in the ballroom for tonight and that the initiation would be tomorrow. Right after, the students all began to disperse.

"Those were some tough words," Karin mentioned. "Professor Ozpin's speech might scare some of the new students."

Naruto made sure to remember the name of the man; he didn't want to forget it again. "Yeah, but he's right. Just knowing what a book says will only get you so far. What matters is how you're able to apply it to real world situations. I had a teammate back in Konoha who knew everything that the books taught in the academy, but she was unable to take the next step and apply it in combat. If these kids don't get that, then they'll die once they step foot onto an actual battlefield."

Naruto blinked when he saw the surprised stares of his three friends looking back at him. "What?"

"Nothing," Jugo said. "You can just be really good with words sometimes."

"Very rarely, though," Suigetsu added with a snicker. Naruto didn't deny it, after all, he knew it was true.

Seeing Ruby hanging out with a blonde girl, who he assumed was her sister, Naruto grinned and began dragging Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo over to introduce to her.

"Hey!" Suigetsu shouted. "Let me go, you blonde moron!"

Naruto ignored the struggles of his friends and would later deny that he was taking them someplace against their will.

"Oi, Ruby," Naruto called out, getting her and the other girl she was with to turn. The girl with Ruby reminded Naruto of Tsunade-baachan if she was a teenager. She had long blonde hair, and her lavender eyes were looking at him in a way that made him think of the looks that Jiraiya would give women, except maybe her looks were a bit tamer than his teacher. She wore a brown vest over a yellow tube top and pair of black shorts. Though Naruto's favorite part of her outfit was right below her chin, where an orange scarf was wrapped around her neck. Naruto was glad to see that she wasn't an orange hater, who were almost as bad as ramen haters.

"Naruto!" Ruby exclaimed cheerfully. "I was just telling Yang about you."

The female blonde cut in between the two and extended her hand. "Yang Xiao Long. Pleased to meet you." She shook Naruto's hand before a grin spread across her face. "Maybe later, the two of us could _yang_ out."

Naruto snickered and replied, "Sure just _yellow_ out for me when you're ready."

The two blondes laughed, while the other four facepalmed at the horrible puns. Ruby loved her sister dearly, but her puns were never good. And yet, Yang never seemed to learn.

"So in terms of what we could do," Naruto asked, "how do you feel about pranks?"

"Now you're talking," Yang said with a wide Cheshire cat grin. "What do you have in mind."

All across the world, all those who had any sort of connection to Naruto or Yang felt a shiver run down their spine, and Ruby's, Jugo's, Karin's, and Suigetsu's faces all paled at the horrifying sight that lied in front of them.

"There's two of them," Ruby and Suigetsu muttered in a panic, each referring to their respective companion.

"Daikokuten, what did we do for you to curse us?" Karin questioned fearfully, almost unable to believe that such bad fortune could even happen.

"I'll start finding bunkers," Jugo added dryly.

* * *

"Why do I feel a sense of dread," a white-haired man wondered, before shrugging to himself and holding his telescope back up to his eye. He giggled as one of the objects of his spying stood up from the water. "Yes, that's right, turn this way and let me see everything."

* * *

Naruto rolled his eyes at the four, before introducing everyone. It was slightly funny how much Ruby had to crane her head to look Jugo in the eye when she shook his hand. Karin made a comment to Ruby to make sure to watch out for Suigetsu, getting a shout of complaint from him. However, Suigetsu's introduction to Ruby was perhaps the most entertaining.

After a quick name exchange, Ruby's eyes locked on to Suigetsu's weapon strapped to his back. Rose petals fluttered to the ground where she had been standing as she reappeared behind Suigetsu, looking at the massive sword with starry eyes.

"So cool!" she squealed. "What's it made of it? Can it do anything special? Is it a fire sword?!"

Suigetsu smirked as he grabbed the handle and held the blade in front of him. "Finally! Someone who appreciates a fantastic weapon. This is Kubikiribōchō, one of seven swords that can only be wielded by swordsmen of the highest caliber. This one can use the iron that's in blood to repair itself, no matter how damaged it is."

"Whoa, that's amazing!" Ruby commented before she pulled out her weapon, "But it's got nothing on Crescent Rose."

Suigetsu's eyes widened at the site of the giant scythe, and he actually began drooling a little. "It's so beautiful. The design is great, and it's part gun as well! I can already imagine how easily that blade must slice through flesh and bone. Where did you get it from?"

"I built it myself," Ruby said with a surge of pride, glad to finally be getting some respect from someone other than her Uncle Qrow on how great her weapon was. She was surprised when Suigetsu slung an arm over her shoulder and wiped a tear from his eye.

"Kid, you and me are gonna get along just fine," he stated, and Ruby smiled.

"'You and I,'" Karin corrected the pointy-toothed swordsman, and the two immediately launched into one of their usual spats. Jugo sighed while Yang began laughing.

"This might be fun after all," Naruto said, as he looked at the two new friends he had already made.

* * *

From her position on the other side of the room, Blake glared at the blonde that she had seen earlier being harassed by the Schnee. The whisker marks on his face made him look somewhat like a Faunus, but she could tell that he wasn't. His scent was all wrong.

Just being around him made her sick because of his smell. He reeked of evil and hatred. She had only ever felt like this around Grimm, but his was much stronger than any Grimm she had faced before. This meant that this person- no- thing was some new species of Grimm. It could disguise itself as a human to gain the trust of its prey so that it could kill them easier.

However, Blake knew that she couldn't take it on as she was now. Along with the hatred, she could feel the power that it radiated. If she tried to attack it now, there were no guarantees of her survival. This strength... it reminded her of Adam.

And if she told anyone of her theory, they'd just think that she was nuts. So instead, she would keep a close eye on the beast and get stronger so that she could take it out when it attacked.

* * *

 **So just a quick word before I end this. This isn't going to be just Naruto and friends tagging along with team RWBY. They'll hang out and work together for some things, but they'll also get their own separate missions. And as you can see, this is slightly AU due to Naruto meeting and now traveling with Jugo, Karin, and Suigetsu.**

 **Also, I did a lot of research beforehand, and while the color naming rules of characters usually don't apply to crossover characters, all the Naruto characters that are going to Beacon fit in. Except one.**

 **Most people know Naruto's name can mean maelstrom or fishcake, but it also is a type of orange(as in the fruit, not the color.).**

 **Karin means scent of perfume (or something like that), which is often associated with the color pink or purple.**

 **Suigetsu means water moon, so his name can be associated with either blue or white.**

 **Jugo was the one that stood out without a color based name. Although there is a juice company with the same name, but I don't really know if that counts.**

 **And whenever I get to the team name, I will explain my reasoning behind choosing it and how it fits into the color naming rule of teams.**


	2. At Least there was Nothing in the Ramen

**What's this? Another chapter so soon?! Don't get too excited, it's not always gonna be like this. Anyway, just to let you guys know Jutsu names will be in italics when spoken out loud and in Japanese with their English name at the end of the chapter. Enjoy!**

* * *

 ** _Chapter 2:_**

 ** _At Least There was Nothing in the Ramen_**

"Read 'em and weep," Naruto proclaimed as he threw down his hand, a straight flush, and pulled all of the candy on the ground toward him. Suigetsu cursed, Karin groaned, and Jugo sighed at how badly they were losing.

After the sun had set, all the students had gathered in the ballroom, and the four ninjas had decided to pass the time by playing poker. Though they were forced to use candy, favors, and other various little things like that instead of money. No thanks to a certain toad sage robbing them of their money to pay for his booze and food.

"At this rate, we're not going to have anything left," Karin complained.

"We could always play strip po-" Suigetsu's idea was immediately rejected by the other three before he could even finish. They all agreed just to be done for the night, and Naruto put the deck of cards away. Jugo lied back and closed his eyes, while Suigetsu began reading the Icha Icha book he had brought with him.

Naruto could see Karin's eye twitch, but she refrained from hitting the swordsman. She stood up and grabbed her pajamas from her bag.

"I'm going to take a shower. I think all the other girls have already finished."

Naruto nodded as Karin walked off towards the bathroom. Suigetsu looked up from his book. "You think Karin will be okay with the public showers?"

Naruto grinned impishly at his friend. "Oh, what's this? Does Suigetsu actually care for Karin?"

"Shut it!" Suigetsu exclaimed, getting looks from the entire ballroom. He lowered his voice and coughed awkwardly. "It's just… you know how she is when it comes to that. I'm the only one who can mock her, and now she has to worry about other girls while she's in the shower."

"She'll be fine," Naruto replied. "Karin's an Uzumaki; we're tougher than we look."

* * *

Karin walked into the bathroom, quickly confirming that it was empty before setting her stuff down. She began to undress but paused before taking off her undergarments.

She took a glance at the bite marks that littered her chest, arms, and neck. The one part of herself that she wished she could get rid of, the permanent reminders of her practically slave-like childhood.

Thanks to her Uzumaki heritage, she had an immense life force and could heal others by letting them bite her. Her mother had also had this ability, and in a way, it was the only Karin had left of her.

She frowned as she remembered her mother. For the two of them to stay in the village, her mother had made a deal to heal all of the village's wounded. That eventually led to her death, and Karin was forced to take on those duties.

She could clearly remember the pain the first time she had healed someone and how many times she had nearly died of chakra exhaustion. She had held on, though, and had eventually gone with Orochimaru in hopes of a better life, but it had merely been trading one bad circumstance for another.

With a smile, she thought back to her first meeting with Naruto and how she had thought that he was nothing more than a loud-mouthed brat. But now here she was, following that idiot who happened to be family.

 _"I'm gonna make sure to find a way to get those marks off of ya, -ttebayo! And Naruto Uzumaki never goes back on his word."_

He was an idealist and someone who was perhaps too quick to forgive, but she had never seen anyone who worked as hard as him. Before meeting Naruto, she would have scoffed at the idea of ever ridding herself of these bite marks, but she fully believed that he could find a way. After all, he was an unpredictable knucklehead who had done the impossible before.

* * *

Naruto looked through his supplies to make sure that everything was ready just in case he had to fight tomorrow. He checked the edges of his kunai to make sure they weren't blunted and did the same to his shuriken. To his left, Suigetsu was giggling at whatever was happening in his book while Jugo was snoring lightly.

Naruto discreetly tossed a rolled up piece of paper over to Suigetsu, who read it and gave him a grin. With his accomplice in crime now informed, the two of them would just have to wait for everyone else to fall asleep.

Karin walked out of the bathroom in her night clothes, her old clothes bundled together in her hand. She stepped around those who were already asleep and sat down on her makeshift bed. After placing her glasses into a case, she pulled a nightcap over her eyes and followed Jugo into the realm of dreams.

Little by little, more and more students fell asleep, until finally, only Naruto and Suigetsu were awake. They carefully stood, making sure not to wake up Jugo and Karin. Naruto grabbed a couple of bowls from his bag and handed one to Suigetsu.

"Now, begin Operation Boukou Kouzui."

The next morning, every single student except Naruto and Suigetsu awoke to find that their bladders had decided to betray them in their sleep. The two pranksters were prepared, though, and they took off out of the ballroom laughing like madmen.

Naruto finished pulling on his jacket as they finally got a safe distance from the dozens of teens after their heads.

"We lost 'em," Suigetsu said, and the two stopped running. Chuckling to themselves, they high-fived at the success of their prank. That was until they felt a massive killing intent directed at them and their heads soon met the ground.

"You morons!" The enraged voice of Karin met their ears as Naruto struggled to pick himself off the ground. Suigetsu had partially liquefied due to Karin actually hitting him, and he groaned in pain.

Jugo stood behind Karin, holding her back from continuing her assault.

"Would it help if we said we were sorry?" Naruto questioned, but the rapid twitching of her eyebrow was all the answer he needed.

* * *

Naruto nursed the bruise on his head as he stood at the top of a cliff with all the other students. He could almost feel them glaring at him. Standing in front of them were Professor Ozpin, who was casually drinking coffee, and Professor Goodwitch.

"For years, you have trained to become warriors," Ozpin said, "and today, your abilities will be tested in the Emerald Forest."

Ozpin glanced over to Professor Goodwitch, and she spoke up, "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of teams. Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates… Today."

A few heads to his right, Naruto heard Ruby let out a little groan.

"These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time at Beacon," Ozpin informed, "so it is in your best interests to be paired with someone with whom you can work well."

 _'How is that gonna work, though?'_ Naruto wondered. _'Do we get to choose our teammates?'_

"That being said," Ozpin continued, "the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

"What!?" Ruby exclaimed in a panic, and Naruto shared a glance with Jugo. Jugo or Karin would be able to find him easily, and Suigetsu would just turn into a puddle of water before anyone else locked eyes with him.

"After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest," Ozpin instructed. "You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy anything in your path, or you will die."

Naruto looked over to see a look of pure rapture on Suigetsu's face at that prospect, and he felt sorry for any Grimm that happened to wander into his path. Puke Boy from the airship gulped nervously, probably at the prospect of danger.

"You will be monitored and graded for the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene." As Ozpin continued, Suigetsu's maniacal grin grew wider and wider. "At the end of the path, you will find an abandoned temple containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

"Yeah, um, sir-" Puke Boy raised his hand but was ignored.

"Good. Now, take your positions," Ozpin said. As Puke boy tried to ask his question, the ground under Naruto suddenly sprung up, and he was sent flying toward the Emerald Forest. He let out a loud whoop, and the other students were launched one by one soon after.

Naruto looked to see Suigetsu simply turn his body to water to get to the ground, gravity doing its job to get him there quickly. Karin aimed her hand at a tree, and a chain made of chakra shot out of her hand, and she rocketed down into the canopy. Jugo angled his body down and landed on a tree branch before disappearing beneath the leaves.

Naruto took the easiest approach and just used substitution to place himself on the ground. With a grin, he took off toward where he saw Jugo land.

A loud cacophony of roars and howls filled the air. Naruto chuckled; it would seem like Suigetsu had already found some Grimm.

* * *

"I'm slicing through their brains," Suigetsu sang happily as he cut through another Grimm. Oh, how he had missed the feeling of slicing things in two. Truly, there was nothing better than watching a lifeless body collapse to the ground after it had been cut into pieces. Well, messing with Karin was probably a close second.

As he continued his off-key singing, Grimm continued to drop like stones. He spun around, decapitating a Beowolf that had tried to sneak up on him. He cleaved another one in half before realizing that he had killed them all.

"Tch, I should've savored that battle more. Oh well, time to go find a partner and cut more Grimm to pieces!"

However, what happened next was not anything close to what he had been planning. After passing through some bushes, he blinked once slowly, and the person he had met eyes with did the same.

"WHAT THE HECK!" They both shouted and pointed at each other. "Why did it have to be you!?"

Suigetsu glared, and the action was reciprocated by his new "partner", Karin. Of all the luck in the world, he got stuck with her. Why couldn't he have found Naruto or that Ruby girl?

"Let's just hurry up and get a relic," Karin said and pointed to her left. "North should be that way."

* * *

Naruto listened carefully as he ran beside Jugo, prepared for the result of the inevitable team up of Karin and Suigetsu. He heard a loud shout coming from far away and chuckled. Yep, karma worked in hilarious ways.

"It would seem that Suigetsu and Karin have partnered up," Jugo commented.

"How long do you think it'll take before they snap and kill each other?" Naruto questioned as he kept an eye out for Grimm.

"You don't have much faith in them," he replied with a smile. "...Twelve minutes."

Naruto laughed, nearly tripping and falling. As they continued on the path northward, Naruto noticed the strange lack of Grimm to his eyes, but his gut was telling him that they were surrounded.

"Jugo, stop," Naruto commanded, and they both came to a halt. Jugo looked around and seemed to reach the same conclusion that Naruto had. They stood back to back, and Naruto grabbed a kunai from his pouch. His eyes flickered to the left, and he threw the weapon.

There was a screech, and Naruto's suspicions were proved correct. A large, dark body appeared out of thin air, with the kunai sticking out of its head. It had the body of a lion, but its head was more reptilian in appearance. Its hairless body was covered in scales, and a white and red mask in the shape of a lizard was attached to its face.

"A Grimm," Jugo muttered, "but it doesn't like any of the ones that were in the books."

"Must be an undiscovered species," Naruto replied, and a toothy grin spread across his face. "Dibs on naming it, -ttebayo!"

"That'll have to wait," Jugo said, his right arm transforming for battle. The skin on his arm turned grey, and an axe-like blade took form on the side. "There's more."

They both dodged out of the way as another invisible creature lunged for them. Naruto reached into his pouch and pulled out a paint bomb. If they were camouflaging themselves, maybe he could mess it up with this. He threw it to the ground, and paint splattered around him, covering himself and Jugo, but also getting some on the Grimm.

With the splotches of orange paint on the Grimm, Naruto could now see where the were and rushed forward into battle, Jugo doing the same. Naruto crossed his fingers in front of him.

" _Kage Bunshin no Jutsu_!" Naruto shouted, and three copies of himself appeared beside him. Two rushed forward and kicked two of the Grimm up into the air, while the real Naruto and third clone jumped and punched them back into the ground with enough force to snap their necks.

As another Grimm rushed at him, Naruto's clone came over and ran over and pointed his hands at Naruto's outstretched palm. An orb of blue energy appeared and Naruto ran at the Grimm.

" _Rasengan_!" He slammed the orb into the creature, which was sent crashing through the trees with the Rasengan ripping into its body and killing it.

Jugo was having trouble with all the Grimm surrounding him, and Naruto knew that he would have to risk entering his bloodlust mode to take them all out. Jugo's other arm took on the shape of a drill, and a crazed laugh ripped from his throat as he tore his way through the remaining Grimm. But he didn't stop after that and began rushing toward Naruto with a maniacal grin.

Naruto, having traveled with Jugo for two years, had found a way to snap him out of this long ago. He leveled his gaze at his partner and directed all of his killing intent at him. Jugo froze in his tracks, and moments later, his body returned to normal.

"Thank you," Jugo said and took a deep breath. Naruto waved him off. It was nothing. After all, all he had done was help a friend.

Naruto looked at the bodies of the Grimm they had killed and though carefully. "Let's see, they look kinda like lions, and can camouflage themselves… I got it! These things are now named Chamelions."

"Well, it's not the worst name you've come up with," Jugo mentioned, and Naruto turned to his friend with a betrayed look.

"My naming sense is fine, thank you very much."

"Whatever you say, Naruto."

* * *

Grimm were normally creatures that didn't care about danger and would often rush into battle without any thought. However, as these three Beowolves watched their prey from the bushes, they were looking slightly hesitant.

"You said this way was north just five minutes ago!" The white haired human yelled at his red-headed companion.

"Shut up! Your idiocy probably made the poles switch or something!"

"My idiocy!? Are you sure it wasn't because of _your_ hideous looks!?"

The two were glaring at each other with enough intensity to set water on fire. One of the Grimm decided to take the chance and attack. Both turned to face the creature, annoyance in their eyes.

"Don't interfere!"

The female shot a chain out of her hand which wrapped around the Grimm and pulled its head off, while the male sliced the body in half. The other two Grimm felt fear for the first time in their lives and decided to take off in the opposite direction as the two humans continued to argue over who had dealt the killing blow.

* * *

"Naruto, why did you have to make this paint so hard to remove?" Jugo questioned, the two of them kneeling beside a stream and trying to get the paint off their skin. Unfortunately, the paint bomb's original use was going to be for a prank, which meant that it was filled with Naruto's special paint that was a pain in the butt to wash off.

Naruto apologized as he finished cleaning his face. Maybe he should tweak the stuff in the paint so that in the future he could remove it easier.

Once they no longer looked like orange colored mimes, Naruto and Jugo continued running north towards the temple. After several minutes of running, they broke through the brush into a large clearing. In the center was some ruins, which Naruto assumed was the temple Ozpin had talked about. Looking around, Naruto noticed a few large shards of ice rising out of the ground nearby, like someone had fought something here.

Pushing that to the back of his mind, Naruto walked over to ruins with Jugo and saw several small pillars inside. Some had nothing on top, while others had chess pieces. Naruto walked over and grabbed one of the black knights and slipping it into his pocket.

"Well this was anticlimactic," Naruto complained. "I was expecting some sort of epic battle with a giant Grimm, and we'd meet up with Suigetsu and Karin and show them how we fight when we're all together…"

Jugo sweatdropped at Naruto. "Let's not press our luck and just head back to the cliff."

"Fine," Naruto grumbled, crossing his arms in annoyance. "Which way's that, again?"

Naruto followed Jugo as they took off back towards the direction of the cliff. The trip there was, unfortunately, uneventful. Back at the cliff, Naruto could clearly see the signs of battle everywhere, and at the foot of the cliff was a headless Grimm that looked like a Nevermore. As he and Jugo began walking up the cliff face, he pointed to it.

"See! Someone got to fight a giant Grimm!"

"Naruto, we are not going to head back into those woods just so that you can get into a fight with the biggest Grimm you find."

Naruto stuck his tongue out at him. "Spoilsport."

Arriving at the top, they were met with eight pairs of eyes looking them with varying degrees of disbelief. Naruto recognized Ruby, Yang, Weiss, that girl in black from yesterday, and Puke boy.

Along with them were a red haired girl with green eyes. Her armor looked like it came from ancient times and she had a shield attached to her arm.

There was a girl with short orange hair, who Naruto immediately declared as a friend in his head, with turquoise eyes. She wore a white and black shirt, with a heart-shaped cutout right above her chest, and a pink skirt.

Finally was a guy whose black hair had a single streak of magenta and was pulled into a ponytail. He wore a dark green tailcoat with black and gold trimming and white pants.

"How'd you get up here?" Puke Boy exclaimed, looking the most shocked out of all of them.

"We walked up," Naruto stated as if it was an obvious fact. However, before he could explain the concept of using chakra to walk up a wall of rock, they heard a scream of terror. Seconds later, Suigetsu and Karin burst out of the treeline with a horde of King Taijitu on their tail.

Despite their mad dash to the cliff, several of the Grimm leaped over and slithered around them to block their path. Naruto's eyes widened as he watched them try to defend themselves from all directions at once.

"Jugo, throw me!"

"Wait, what are you doing?" The red haired girl exclaimed in worry. "You could get killed if you go down there."

"Those are my friends, and if I don't help them then they will die!" Naruto nodded to Jugo to give him the go ahead, and he transformed his arm so that it now had a booster on the elbow. Naruto closed his mouth when Jugo launched him towards the dozens of snake-like Grimm that were starting to get past Karin and Suigetsu's defenses.

Naruto pulled out a kunai and began shaping his chakra correctly for what he needed to do. After he had heard about this from Karin, he had bugged Jiraiya to teach him until the older man had caved. His chakra flowed into the kunai and surrounded it with the razor sharp wind chakra.

Naruto cut through the neck of one King Taijitu and grinned at Karin and Suigetsu's surprised but thankful expressions. Jugo crashed into the ground moments later, using one of the snakes as a landing pad and crushing its skull.

"What the heck did you guys do?" Naruto questioned as he jammed his kunai into the head of a Grimm.

"Suigetsu disturbed a nest of these things on our way back from the temple," Karin answered and shot a chain straight through one of the snakes, pinning it to the ground and allowing Suigetsu to cut through it.

"Don't go spouting lies. You were the one who woke these ugly monsters up.

Before they could begin arguing again, Naruto interrupted them, "Not right now, you two. We need to focus on killing on these things. It'll be just like our first meeting, minus the giant bear-sized killer bats."

All three nodded, and then the massacre began.

Multiple chains shot out of Karin's body and skewered Grimms like shish-kabobs. Suigetsu used his jutsu that allowed him to increase the mass of his arms and began hacking away with Kubikiribōchō. Jugo turned one of his arms into a piston-like thing and started punching through the creatures. Naruto summoned several shadow clones and began cutting and stabbing through the two-headed serpents.

One of them tried to snap its jaws around Naruto, and Naruto disappeared into its mouth. Moments later, however, Naruto burst out of the top of the head with a Rasengan in hand and quickly shoved it into the face of the white half of the King Taijitu.

"I am not getting eaten by another snake, dattebayo!" He yelled with a passion before a frown crossed his face.

"What's wrong?" Karin asked, wrapping a chain around one of the Grimm and pulling so tightly that it tore clean through it.

"If it's got a head where its tail is supposed to be, then how does it go to the bathroom?" Naruto wondered out loud, getting silence from the other three. Suddenly Karin and Suigetsu blanched and gagged.

"Thanks for that image," Suigetsu said sarcastically He let go of his blade for a moment and held his hands into the shapes of guns and began firing highly pressurized water bullets at his enemies from his fingers.

Seeing that there were only a few more Grimm left, Naruto created seven shadow clones and began forming a Rasengan in his and three of the clones hands. Once he was ready, he told the others to get out of the way.

" _Rasengan_!" He slammed the orb of chakra into the remaining King Taijitu, and Suigetsu quickly finished off the second heads.

He began laughing, and Naruto quickly joined in. Even Karin couldn't help but express the joy of surviving such a battle. All four collapsed to the ground due to using too much chakra and stared up at the sky.

"That was much more fun than fighting against one giant Grimm," Naruto spoke up, getting a small chuckle out of Jugo.

* * *

It didn't take too long for them to regain their chakra, and they had rejoined the others as soon as they had enough energy to stand. And now all students were gathered in the auditorium as the teams were being put together.

A newly formed Team CRDL walked off the stage, and the next four students walked up. This team consisted of Puke Boy, the ancient warrior girl, the green-garbed guy, and the orange haired girl.

"Jaune Arc. Lie Ren. Pyrrha Nikos. Nora Valkyrie." Ozpin greeted each one. "The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Juniper."

The onlooking students clapped for the group of four, and Nora cheered and embraced Ren.

"Led by Jaune Arc," Ozpin finished, garnering surprise from the mentioned student. Ozpin congratulated him, as Pyrrha gave him a friendly push, accidentally knocking him down in the process.

As Team JNPR moved out of the way, Naruto, Karin, Suigetsu, and Jugo walked up towards Ozpin.

"Jugo Hashira. Naruto Uzumaki. Suigetsu Hōzuki. Karin Uzumaki. The four of you retrieved the black knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Jinx, led by Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto shouted out a loud cheer, and Suigetsu let out a few mumbles of "Stupid blonde."

"Professor Ozpin," Karin said questioningly, "for all the other teams, the first letter of the leader's name was the first letter in the acronym. Why is ours different? Could you not find anything that started with 'N'?"

Ozpin didn't reply, but his expression told the entire story and was the answer Karin had expected. Karin and Jugo helped get the excited Naruto off the stage so that the final team could be announced.

"And finally Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, and Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Ruby, led by Ruby Rose."

Everyone began clapping, and Yang quickly pulled her sister into a hug to congratulate her. Suigetsu shouted encouragement for his fellow weapon enthusiast, and Ozpin smiled.

"Looks like things are shaping up to be an… interesting year," he said.

* * *

Ozpin was up in his office finishing a few things before he went to bed. He thought of all the incredible students that had joined this year, those of Team JNKS in particular. He was still slightly embarrassed that Miss Uzumaki had seen through him so easily, but she was right. He hadn't been able to find anything for their team that began with "N," so he had just improvised. It wasn't an entirely unheard of, but it did happen very rarely.

He suddenly felt a breeze brush across his face, but he had been sure that the windows were closed. He reached for his cane and turned around, prepared to fight the intruder if necessary.

"Whoa, no need to be so jumpy, Ozzy. It's just me."

Ozpin sighed as he saw the man with spiky, white hair leaning against the wall. Under his black eyes were two red lines, and he wore a horned forehead protector with a single symbol etched into the center. He wore a red haori over a green kimono and pants, and a large scroll was on his back.

"Jiraiya, you must stop coming in through the windows. Doors exist for a reason." Despite his slightly admonishing words, Ozpin respected the man in front of him a great deal.

"If my old teammate can't get me to stop, then don't think for a second that you can, Ozzy." He walked over and looked at Ozpin's desk with a critical eye. "You wouldn't happen to have anything alcoholic in there, do you?"

"Sorry, Jiraiya, but you know I don't drink," Ozpin answered, but quickly turned serious. "I doubt you came here just to chat. What's wrong?"

Jiraiya frowned and glanced around, seemingly making sure that no one was listening in. "It's the Akatsuki. I got some intel that said they were working with a major crime boss here in Vale. I don't have a name yet, but my informant told me that this crime boss is planning something big."

"And if he has the Akatsuki helping him, then that only increases the danger," Ozpin stated, looking for a confirmation from the old toad sage. Jiraiya nodded and sighed.

"This also means that they could find out that Naruto is here, and if that happens they'll send some of their strongest members here to capture him eventually," Jiraiya told Ozpin. "Whatever you do, make sure that Naruto doesn't leave this school alone."

"Don't worry, old friend. I will keep a close eye on Mr. Uzumaki and his friends."

Jiraiya smiled before looking out over the schoolyard. "Thank you. I have this bad feeling that there's a storm on the horizon, and the worst part is we can't see it…"

* * *

 _ **Kage Bunshin no Jutsu/Shadow Clone Jutsu.**_

* * *

 **And there is the second chapter. As stated in this chapter by Ozpin, he was unable to find an acronym for Naruto's team that began with "N", so the team name is JNKS. This follows the RWBY color naming rule, because according to the dictionary, a jinx is a type of black magic. Thus it can be associated with a color. I also learned that "Jugo" is an ingredient something that is found in most juices, so now even his name fits into the color naming rule because it can be associated with any juice color out there.**

 **I also hope you enjoyed the battle scenes, and as they were the first ones I've written, feel free to give me some criticism. And as stated at the top, chapters will not always come out this soon, but I just had a lot of free time to work on this one. I will aim for at least two updates a month, or hopefully one update about every week. This isn't a guarantee, and I may go over that time for some chapters.**

 **Real quick just some real quick replies to reviews:**

Cmedina1: Yeah, the differences between the Ninja and Huntsmen are what originally inspired me to write this fact. Especially the innocence of Ruby and her similarities to Naruto's idealism.

dbzmariogamer: While this chapter didn't really have a lot of interaction with the other teams, I have lots of little snippets planned out.

gregorybryce9: I'm glad that you find my idea with Blake interesting, I wasn't really sure how people would take it.


	3. Suigetu's Preparing for the Maid Cafe

**Did something last chapter and completely forgot to explain my reasoning. Jugo's clan's name is never given anywhere in the manga, anime, or databooks, so I just. I chose "Hashira"(forgetting that the First Hokage's name also has this as part of his first name). I chose this name because Hashira means "pillar" or "strength", and figured that'd be a good name for a clan who's Kekkei Genkai revolves around the power of nature chakra. And in both the original version of Naruto and this version, Jugo acts as a supporting pillar to Sasuke or Naruto respectively.**

 **Also, I've got a DeviantArt account with this same username, where I'll be posting drawings of original characters and Grimm that appear in my stories. Go check it out to see what the Chamelion looks like.**

 **So now that I've explained that, you can read, and I can finally go to sleep(So no ending Author Note this time, too tired to do anything else).**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 3:**_

 _ **Suigetsu's Preparing for the Maid Café**_

"Come on, where's that plug-in," Naruto muttered, crawling on his hands and knees as he looked under the bed for a source of electricity. "Jackpot!"

He slipped the cord in his hand into the socket and removed himself from under Jugo's bed. After checking to make sure it wasn't near anything flammable, Naruto flipped on the portable stove and began preparing his precious instant ramen. While the water was boiling, Naruto got ready for the day and pulled on his uniform.

"I hate these stupid monkey suits," Suigetsu complained, tugging at his shirt as he walked into the room before shielding his eyes. "Whoa! Lock the door next time!"

"I had my pants on already," Naruto replied dryly. "Besides, if I remember correctly, you were completely naked during our first meeting, and you didn't seem to care."

"There's a major difference, though. I am the perfect specimen of a man."

"More like the perfect specimen of a moron," Karin joined the conversation as she walked in, getting a glare from Suigetsu.

"One day, Karin. One day, you will rue ever getting on my bad side."

Naruto finished buttoning up his shirt, lamenting the lack of orange in the uniform. Hanging his tie on his shoulder, he turned off the stove and carefully poured the boiling water into the cup of ramen. By the time Jugo got back from getting ready, Naruto's breakfast would finish.

"So what class do we have today?" Naruto asked, struggling to get his tie on correctly.

"Here let me," Karin offered, and Naruto accepted her help. "According to the schedule the four of us have Grimm Studies today, and tomorrow is sparring and history."

"I can't wait for tomorrow. I'm gonna have to show all these other punks who's the strongest."

"You including your little protegé as one of those punks," Naruto questioned teasingly, having taken great entertainment in the strange way Suigetsu considered himself the Jiraiya to Ruby's Naruto.

"Of course not, but Ruby will have to learn exactly why I'm her senpai," he answered. "Me and my brother weren't considered prodigies for nothing."

Naruto completely opened up his ramen and began eating. Suigetsu didn't talk about his brother much, and when he did it was just short mentions like that. Naruto wanted to ask more about him, but he refrained from doing so due to the one piece of information he did know about Suigetsu's brother.

He was dead, and Naruto knew that that was one of those things that you didn't pry at unless they told you.

"You guys ready?" Jugo's voice came from the door, and the three of them looked over toward the door and were surprised with the image they saw. None of them had ever seen Jugo in anything close to formal clothes before, and Naruto had to admit that Jugo pulled it off better than himself or Suigetsu. Naruto shook his shock off and stood up.

"Well let's hurry up and get to class," Naruto told his teammates. "Today will start a year that I won't be late to a day of class!"

* * *

"What do you mean we're late, Professor Port?" Naruto cried out, looking at the old professor in front of him.

"I mean exactly that. You were late to class."

Naruto groaned. Day one and they were already late. He and the others took their seats awkwardly as several students chuckled. A few rows down, Naruto could swear he heard Ruby sigh in relief as if she was thankful that his team was late. And what she whispered next only confirmed this.

"Thank goodness. We weren't the last ones after all."

Naruto would've been mad at her, but he could understand her worry. She was new here too, and two years younger than everyone else as well, so she would have a lot of people judging her for both her skills and her ability as a leader.

"Now where was I…" Professor Port mumbled. "Ah, yes! The moral of this story is that a true huntsman must be honorable. A true huntsman must be dependable. A true huntsman must be strategic, well-educated, and wise. So, who among you believes themselves to be the embodiment of these traits."

Naruto had expected at least one hand to pop up due to someone being too arrogant and wasn't that surprised when Weiss's hand shot up.

"I do, sir."

"Well then, let's find out." Professor Port looked over at a cage that was rattling violently. He allowed Weiss to go and change into something that would be easier to fight in, and Naruto had a memory of Sasuke flash in his mind as he watched her leave the room with an overconfident gleam in her eyes.

"Now while we wait for Miss Schnee to return, I would like to take this chance to ask Mr. Uzumaki and Mr. Hashira a few questions that I had wanted to earlier."

Naruto chuckled sheepishly. "What is it, Professor?"

"I was telling the class earlier how you and your partner discovered a new species of Grimm yesterday during the initiation, and I would like to know what you could tell us more about them."

"Oh, right! The Chamelions!" Naruto heard a few snickers at the name and tried to find the source but failed. "Well, they're large lion-like Grimm with the ability to become invisible with their camouflage. I had to use a paint bomb so that we could actually see them while fighting. And they turn completely visible once they're dead."

Jugo made sure Naruto was done before he added his thoughts. "In terms of behavior, the Chamelions seem to be a lot like Beowolves. They traveled in a pack and were skilled at working together to overpower a stronger opponent. They are also much more patient than many of the other known Grimm, and they stalked us for quite a while. I think they were waiting until we ventured into an area that would have been more suitable for them to fight against us in, but they were forced into an early clash when we noticed and killed one of them."

"Thank you, Mr. Hashira, for your insight into these Grimm. That information will be helpful as we attempt to learn more about them."

"Man, I wish I could have been there to kill one," Ruby said sadly, getting a disturbed glance from most of the classroom's occupants. Before anyone could comment on Ruby's love for Grimm-slaughter, Weiss re-entered the room in her normal clothes and holding her rapier.

The three other members of Team RWBY all began cheering for their teammate as she stepped into the center of the room.

"Gooooo, Weiss!" Yang yelled.

"Fight well," Blake said and waved a tiny little flag with their team name on it.

"Represent Team RWBY!" Ruby shouted excitedly, raising her arms into the air.

"Ha! If Schnee wins without anyone jumping in, then I'll wear a maid uniform for the rest of the day," Suigetsu whispered to Naruto, who had his Scroll out and ready to record what was probably going to be an embarrassing moment for Weiss.

"Quiet, Ruby. I'm trying to focus," Weiss snapped at her cheering leader, who quickly apologized.

Professor Port looked at Weiss to make sure she was ready and then opened the cage. A Boarbatusk rushed out and promptly set its sights on Weiss. She dodged the first charge by rolling out of the way, quickly getting back on her feet. She rushed at the Grimm and tried to attack it, but the boar Grimm managed to hook its tusks around.

Ruby cheered her teammate on again, only to end up getting yelled at again. However, the loss of Weiss's focus for that split second gave the Boarbatusk the chance it needed to fling the sword out of her hands and knock her back.

"Now what will you do without your weapon?" Professor Port questioned from his position, and Naruto hoped he was ready to jump in should things get bad.

Weiss narrowly dodged another charge and used the chance to dash towards her sword. Ruby shouted out a bit of advice on how to defeat the Grimm, but that only served to infuriate Weiss more.

"Stop telling me what to do!" She exclaimed angrily.

The Boarbatusk curled up and spun towards Weiss at a high speed. She used what must've been her semblance to block it. The Grimm fell onto its back and Weiss quickly stabbed it in the belly.

The professor congratulated Weiss while Suigetsu looked on in shock.

"It appears we are indeed in the presence of a true huntress in training."

"Gag me," Suigetsu muttered in reply, and Naruto happened to agree. Weiss was part of a team, and yet she didn't want to accept help from her teammates. Where were a couple of bells and Kakashi when you needed them.

Professor Port dismissed the class, and Weiss stormed out of the room. Naruto watched as Ruby ran after her, and he wondered how horribly that talk would go. Naruto quickly created a shadow clone and told it to go ask Ozpin something about the Schnee Company.

Suigetsu looked over at him. "Why don't you just go ask him yourself?"

The grin that Suigetsu received was terrifying. Not because it held malice or anything like that, but because it was his pranking grin. That never meant anything good for him unless he was helping Naruto.

* * *

"Uh, anyone got notes on the person who first encountered an Ursa?" Naruto questioned, looking at the others sitting in Team JNKS room. Ruby had come to him and suggested that her team, Naruto's, and Team JNPR should all do homework and study together so that there was more of a chance of someone catching a mistake one of the others made.

Naruto had been unable to deny her request, and since Team JNKS had the most amount of space in their dorm room, it became the meeting place.

However, Blake and Weiss hadn't come to join the party. Also missing was Suigetsu, but Naruto knew the reason why he wasn't here, and Naruto also knew that Suigetsu would be joining them soon. And despite the others all being here, only Naruto, Ruby, Jaune, Ren, and Jugo were studying or doing their assigned homework.

Yang and Nora had merely come to hang out and would have to do it later. The others had gotten their work done early and were helping the more academically challenged ones, such as Naruto and Jaune, with their work.

"Here you go," Jaune replied to Naruto and passed over his paper, which Naruto quickly copied down before handing it back and thanking the leader of Team JNPR. Behind the swordsman, Nora was watching a show on her Scroll, completely engrossed in the action on the screen. Pyrrha sat beside Jaune and helped him with a few of the harder problems.

Finishing the last question on the page, Naruto sighed in relief and closed the book. He would study later, but for now, he just wanted to take a break from thinking about how to estimate the weight of a Grimm based on height and length.

"I _hate_ you, Naruto," Suigetsu exclaimed as he finally returned to the room. "I am going to freakin' murder you in your sleep!"

As Suigetsu walked over, the reactions of everyone present were priceless. Nora laughed boisterously, and Ruby was also struggling not to let her amusement be heard. Yang had a large grin on her face, and Pyrrha had a light dusting of pink spread across her face. Jaune turned green and quickly averted his eyes, while Ren just closed his eyes like he had seen stranger things. Karin looked torn between a mixture of wanting to laugh, insult, and gag. Jugo was the only one who was unfazed and continued reading through his textbook.

Suigetsu walked up to Naruto with an entirely red face, although whether it was out of anger or embarrassment was anyone's guess. Instead of his regular clothes or uniform, he was wearing a stereotypical maid outfit, complete with a short skirt that showed off more than half of his legs.

"You lost your bet Suigetsu, so this is the price you have to pay," Naruto said with a fake apologetic tone.

Suigetsu grumbled and took a seat, struggling to keep the short skirt at a position that didn't expose anything.

Yang looked over to him with a grin, and everyone prepared for the inevitable pun. "For what it's worth, I think you were _maid_ to wear that."

"All of you suck," Suigetsu muttered, and started whispering various methods of torturing people to himself. Naruto snickered, discreetly taking photos using his Scroll. He wanted to remember this day for a long time. He wasn't going to publicize this to the whole school unless Suigetsu did something worthy of that, but Naruto would keep it to constantly remind him why he needed to be careful what to bet.

"Naruto," Pyrrha questioned, breaking him from his train of thought, "you and your team are from the Dark Continent, right?"

Naruto looked at her quizzically, before Karin reminded him that the "Dark Continent" was the common name for their homeland out here, due to how little information they knew about it.

"Yep, although we call it Yōsokuni, or Elemental Lands in English," Naruto explained, before nearly having a heart attack as Nora jumped in front of him.

"Is it true that all the people there can fly?"

"Nora, give him some space," Ren told her, and she followed her best friend's instruction.

"It's not true," Jugo answered in Naruto's place. "As far as I know, no one can truly fly. There are those who can manipulate the elements to do so, but I've yet to see anyone who can fly without using the elements."

Nora looked disappointed and went back to sitting on the bed. Jaune set down his book and stared at Naruto.

"So does everyone have multiple Semblances, or is that just you." Seeing everyone in the room looking at him, Jaune elaborated, "Back at the initiation, Naruto created clones of himself and did that weird thing with the blue orb. I don't see how those two things can be the same Semblance."

Naruto wondered what the heck a Semblance was, but never got the chance to ask thanks to Karin.

"No, and I'm not even sure if we have semblances like all of you. Where we come from, everyone is born with spiritual energy, which you call Aura, and physical energy. By mixing them together, it forms chakra that can be used to perform all the techniques you see us use. Show them, Naruto."

Despite still wondering what a Semblance was, Naruto quickly made a shadow clone and Rasengan, holding the blue orb out so everyone could see. Karin explained that the Rasengan was visible chakra contained into the shape of a sphere. Naruto let the energy dissipate as the other teams stared in wonder at him.

"That's so cool," Jaune exclaimed before he looked over at his weapon leaning in the corner of the room with all the others. "And all I have is an old sword and shield. Some leader I am."

"Jaune, what kind of weapon you have isn't the deciding factor in whether you're a good leader or not," Pyrrha told him, placing a hand on his shoulder in an effort to cheer him up.

Naruto nodded in agreement. "True, you are the weakest on your team-"

"Gee, thanks."

"-but from what I've heard about your performance in the initiation, you managed to figure out a way to pierce the armor of the Death Stalker and kill it. Yes, you needed your teammates to do it, but you came up with the strategy. A good leader isn't someone who's great because of just their skills, but a person whose strength lies in their ability to bring their comrades together effectively in battle."

"I think I still need to work in that area," Ruby said with a sheepish, yet somewhat downcast, laugh. "I doubt Weiss will ever see me as an equal, let alone a leader."

"Ruby, listen. I had a friend who I got into fights with all the time, and at first, he didn't even think I was a worthy fight for him. But then, he eventually began to see me as an equal who he wanted to have a match against."

"What happened? How did things change between you?"

"I proved myself to him. I never gave up and showed him that I was someone he could take seriously. You can do the same with Weiss; it will just take time." Naruto placed a hand on Ruby's shoulder. "Ruby, the most important thing to remember about teams is that each member acts like a pillar that supports the team as a whole, and if one of them is missing then the entire group is unstable. So don't give up just yet, and get the final pillar into place. I know you can do it."

With Naruto's speech done, everyone was silent. Ruby looked up at him with appreciation and thanks. Meanwhile, Yang looked over at Jugo with an apologetic look.

"Your top spot as the person on this team that I am most likely to date has been taken over by Naruto. Sorry, but anyone who can give a speech like that, looks as good as he does, and isn't all stuffed up is a winner in my book."

Jugo didn't care. He wasn't one to care how girls viewed him. Suigetsu was miffed that he wasn't the one in first and was quick to voice this.

"Hey, why am I not in first?"

"Sorry, but you're just not my type, so you're last," Yang said, and Suigetsu's eyebrow began twitching faster than grasshopper's leg.

"Karin's higher than me! I am the epitome of what it means to be a good looking man. For the word 'man', my picture is in the dictionary!"

"You're wearing a maid's outfit," Nora pointed out, making everyone look at her in horror. Even Naruto realized that she had messed up big time. Jugo quickly grabbed Suigetsu by the back of the uniform before he could leap at her with Kubikiribōchō.

"Let me at her! I'll show her who the man is!" He shouted while swinging wildly in the air in an attempt to escape. However, this had an unintended consequence that Nora was quick to point out.

"Haha! You're even wearing panties."

"Prepare to taste my blade!"

Before things got ugly, Yang grabbed Ruby and made a strategic retreat. She fled from the room without looking back, making sure to grab their weapons too. When they got back to their room, Blake began questioning on why it looked like they had been running from a monster.

Ruby quickly gave Blake the story of Suigetsu in the maid costume, not noticing the blood that dripped from her nose. She then began telling her the things they had learned about Naruto and his home.

"It's really cool! He's able to combine his Aura with something else and can do things like creating clones of himself."

After finishing her excited explanation, Ruby grabbed her night clothes and went to go change in the bathroom.

 _'It has Aura?'_ Blake wondered in disbelief. _'But how? That should be impossible for a Grimm since they lacked souls.'_

"What's wrong, Blake?" Yang questioned, noticing the distressed look on her face. Blake turned around to tell her that it was nothing but quickly faced the wall in front of her again with a red face.

"Yang! Change in the bathroom, not in here!"

"Why?" She asked and pulled on her shirt. "We're all girls here."

"That's beside the point!"

* * *

"I am never taking my clothes for granted ever again," Suigetsu exclaimed passionately, finally out of the maid costume. The minute he had gotten out of the outfit, he had grabbed Kubikiribōchō and sliced it into so many pieces that the remainder was practically just string.

"It was fun while it lasted," Karin sighed sadly, lying on her side and propping her head up with her hand.

"Agreed," Naruto said and began thinking about his plans after class tomorrow. He would probably try to work on wind chakra again. He wanted to be able to do more than just make his weapons sharper with it. He wanted to actually use some Wind Style jutsu, even if it meant improvising his own.

"I hope I get to against that orange-haired pest tomorrow," Suigetsu commented, a slightly sadistic gleam to his eyes. "I'll make her wish that she was going through the Spartan training methods that Jiraiya used on us."

Jugo glanced out the window. "I wonder what Jiraiya-sensei's doing now."

* * *

Jiraiya sneezed and looked through the crowded pub that he had been told to come to by Ozpin, and several barmaids clad in short skirts and low-cut tops passed him. He walked to the back of the building and slid into a seat in the very corner. He looked at the cloaked man, who he could see had been quite nervous for a while.

"Lord Jiraiya," the man greeted, "thank you for meeting me here."

"No problem. No matter what I'll enjoy the view." He leered at one of the women as she passed by, and he tried to sneak a peek up her skirt before she walked out of sight. "Is there any new information on the Akatsuki or the person they're working with?"

The man nodded. "Yes, although we still don't know the crime lord's name, we managed to find a mercenary that he frequently employs."

Jiraiya picked up the photo that his informant slipped him. He studied it carefully, but couldn't make out many details due to how blurry it was, but tried his best. In the background was what looked like a bloodied corpse that had been stripped to the bone. In the center of the photograph was the blurry image of what looked like a gorilla in human skin.

"Is this the only picture?"

"Yes. The person who photographed it is still in a coma after being attacked but whatever this man is. The only reason he survived was thanks to Professor Ozpin of Beacon arriving on the scene."

"Yeah, he's the one who told me about this." Jiraiya hid the picture into his pouch. "So how dangerous is this man."

"Extremely. He's a rogue Huntsman who goes by the name of the Devourer. Unfortunately, we don't know his real name, which academy he attended, or even what weapon he uses. The only thing we know about his semblance is from what the man who took that picture said. It has something to do with shapeshifting."

"This could be a problem, but this took place in Atlas, didn't it? So he shouldn't be a danger right now."

"Word on the street is that he's coming into town in the next few days on a job from some big foreign organization."

"The Akatsuki?"

"That's what I believe. The crime boss probably set them up, but this could be a chance to get the name of our unknown criminal if we capture Devourer."

Jiraiya remained silent. If the Akatsuki had hired this Devourer person, then that meant they could be trying to locate Naruto, which was strange, since his information said that they had only captured a few Tailed Beasts. Or could this be an entirely different organization with no interest in Naruto?

No matter what, he needed to get this info to Ozpin. There was a high likelihood that the students of Beacon could be in danger if this man was after Naruto. If Naruto drew out the power of the Nine-Tails at the school…

Jiraiya shuddered as phantom pain coursed through his torso. He would have to find this man quick. He needed to move first and get the advantage.

Jiraiya thanked his informant and gave him the payment, the yet-to-be-released in stores Icha-Icha Tactics, translated into English and signed by Jiraiya himself. Walking out of the bar, Jiraiya paid no attention to the barmaid who asked if he wanted anything else before leaving. Usually, he would have flirted and seduced the woman, but protecting Naruto from the Akatsuki came first.

He bit down on his thumb and weaved through several signs. He was going to need some help with this. It was time to call in the toads.


	4. Please Point the Gun-Sword away from Me

_**Chapter 4:**_

 _ **Please Point the Gun-Sword away from Me**_

Jiraiya looked down at the toad who had just given him an update on the search for the Devourer. They had seen him, but he was still on the path here. Jiraiya thought it strange that the man would choose to walk the entire way from Atlas, especially when it came to the Grimm that populated the areas around the paths.

"Jiraiya," the toad said, "be careful when you confront him. The little knowledge we have could be his best weapon against you."

"But he also knows nothing about me," Jiraiya replied without worry, and the toad sighed before it disappeared in a poof of smoke. Jiraiya steeled his gaze and took off running with the sun beating down on him. He was intent on taking care of this problem before it got anywhere close to Naruto.

* * *

Naruto sneezed and rubbed his nose. He hoped he wasn't catching a cold. Beside him, Suigetsu was eagerly holding onto the hilt of Kubikiribōchō. They were in the middle of their sparring class, and Suigetsu was eagerly waiting for Professor Goodwitch to choose him.

However, she instead opted to pick Jaune as the first of the students to enter the ring for this match. Naruto, ever since his last match against Jaune, had wanted a serious match with his fellow leader and raised his hand high in the air in an attempt to be picked. He didn't miss the exasperated look of Karin at his behavior.

"Mr. Uzumaki, will you please put your hand down. After what you did during your last match, you should consider yourself lucky to have gotten away with a minor punishment," Professor Goodwitch stated with a stern look, and then she turned to face one of the other students. "Mr. Winchester, please come down to the ring."

As Naruto watched the leader of team CRDL walk down with a smug smirk on his face, he snickered as he remembered the first day of sparring.

-(Flashback Start!)-

 _"Naruto Uzumaki, Jaune Arc, please step into the ring."_

 _Suigetsu groaned, and Naruto jumped into the ring. He heard his other two team members telling him good luck. Meanwhile, Jaune seemed really nervous as he stepped in front of Naruto._

 _"Don't worry, -ttebayo," Naruto assured his fellow blond. "I'll make it relatively painless."_

 _"Thanks," he replied dryly, not really feeling relieved since he had no clue what "relatively painless" was to Naruto._

 _The match began, and Naruto quickly made a hand seal. One which all of his teammates recognized. Suigetsu started laughing his pants off, his frustration at not being the first to fight fully gone. Jugo's face remained neutral, but a faint blush could be seen if you looked close enough. Karin groaned and was ready to heal Naruto from the backlash of the double-edged sword that Naruto was going to use._

 _A large smoke cloud surrounded Naruto, blocking him from view. Jaune tensed up and prepared for the inevitable surprise attack._

 _Nothing happened, though, and Jaune found himself questioning what was going on. However, as the smoke began to clear, Jaune froze completely at the sight in front of him, as did most of the other students._

 _Standing in Naruto's place was a girl with long blonde hair tied into twin ponytails. Her blue eyes were rounder than Naruto's, but the whisker marks were still the same. But what had Jaune struck silent was the fact she was completely nude with only a few wisps of smoke covering her intimate areas._

 _She blushed and bashfully tried to cover herself using her arms. "Mou, it's embarrassing! Please don't look," her eyes stared right into Jaune's, "Mas-ter Jau-ne."_

 _That was the final straw, and Jaune shot back with a stream of blood flowing from his nose. He flew out of bounds and collapsed into an unconscious heap. The same thing happened to some of the audience too, and Naruto transformed back with a laugh. He could feel the female fury directed at him from some of the girls, one of whom was most likely Weiss._

 _"Totally worth it." He saw the glare he received from Professor Goodwitch and was prepared for any punishment she could dish out._

 _Jaune's teammates rushed down to their leader, and Nora stood over him._

 _"Don't go, Jaune! You still have so much to live for." She raised her hands into the air and electricity began flowing through them. "Clear!"_

 _Pyrrha and Ren grabbed her before she accidentally did stop Jaune's heart. Meanwhile, Suigetsu was wiping tears from his eyes, and Jugo was looking away from everyone in an attempt to hide his embarrassment._

-(Flashback End!)-

Jaune's luck had pretty much been the same for any match he had since then. He always lost a match without so much as putting a dent into his opponent's Aura level. And this match with Cardin was no exception. He lost pretty quickly, and Naruto was quickly beginning to question how exactly Jaune had gotten accepted into Beacon.

As Jaune's Aura dropped into the "red zone" -Naruto still wondered how they managed to measure a person's Aura level- Professor Goodwitch called the match and began to berate Jaune on his failure to look at his Scroll in the middle of battle.

That was something that Naruto was guilty of as well, and something he doubted he would be able to change. He was used to fighting and gauging how much strength he had left without a scroll, so he didn't need to use that strategy.

With the class now over, Glynda prepared to dismiss class with an announcement. "Remember, everyone, the Vytal Festival is only a few months away. It won't be long before students from the other kingdoms start arriving in Vale, so keep practicing. Those who choose to compete in the combat tournament will be representing all of Vale.

"Hey, Naruto, you signed us up for this Vytal Festival thing, right?" Suigetsu questioned.

"Of course. I want to see just how strong huntsmen from the other countries are too." Naruto took out his scroll when he received a message on it from an unknown number. "That's weird."

"What is?" Karin came over and peered at the scroll over his shoulder. She saw the message that told Naruto to meet the person in front of the statue at the front of the school tonight.

"It's most likely a girl who wishes to confess her feelings to you," Jugo commented as he took a look, using his knowledge of the many visual novels he had gone through since coming to Vale.

Naruto blinked several times, and then he began laughing at that prospect. "Nice one, Jugo. Come on, there's no way a girl would actually feel that way about me for real."

Naruto began walking off towards the cafeteria intent on getting food in his stomach, leaving the rest of his team staring blankly at his back.

"That dense idiot," all three said in sync.

"He doesn't help the case against dumb blonds," Suigetsu muttered. "Even I know that quite a few girls have been fawning over Naruto since we arrived at Beacon. How can he think that no one would actually have feelings for him?"

Karin sighed as they shuffled out of the building. "It makes sense, though, when you consider how he grew up. He didn't have parents or anyone who could teach him about love. And with how the villages back home treat Jinchuuriki, it's not like he had girls back home lining up to go out with him." Karin looked at the back of her fellow Uzumaki. "When you're treated like that, when you're hated by everyone around you… It can be hard to believe that someone actually could love you."

* * *

Naruto looked over to the counter, where Jugo was getting his lunch, and turned back to listen to Nora's story about taking on Grimm. Ren cut in every few seconds to correct some details such as how many Grimm there were along with the fact that they were Beowolves and not Ursai. Jaune lazily poked at his food, not taking a bite of anything on the plate.

Naruto looked to the right and saw Blake reading a book, but he could feel her hatred directed at him. He had no clue what he had done to her, or whether she was just really vengeful, even if it was something stupid like pranks. Maybe he looked like someone else that she didn't like, like an ex-boyfriend or something.

Shaking off his thoughts, he looked over to Weiss, who was finally realizing her place as a part of a team. The animosity between her and Ruby was no longer as severe as it was when Team RWBY had first come together.

"And we made a boatload of Lien selling Ursa-skin rugs," Nora declared proudly as she finished her story.

Ren sighed. "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month now."

Pyrrha noticed Jaune picking at his food without eating it. "Jaune, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, yeah. Why?"

Ruby was about to reply, but Suigetsu beat her to it. "You're acting like a puppy that just got kicked." He shrugged off the strange stares he got from Teams RWBY and JNPR. "What? It's true."

"Guys, I'm fine. Seriously, look," Jaune said with a nervous laugh, but everybody continued to stare at him in disbelief.

Their intervention with Jaune was interrupted by the sounds of Team CRDL, who had nothing better to do with their time and were bullying a Faunus girl who was in the second year.

Naruto's fist began to shake as he watched the brown haired girl with rabbit ears being mocked for something she couldn't control. No matter where he went, there were always people like that. People who would hate someone who was different from them. To see someone else go through something similar to what he had in childhood… It made him mad. He would rather take all the hatred of the world onto himself than see someone hated for who or what they were born as.

To his right, Karin could sense the chakra within Naruto turning into a maelstrom. His usually calm chakra was being overcome with the dark chakra of the Nine-Tails. She lightly pinched his arm to snap him out of it, and he began to calm down.

"Jaune, Cardin's been picking on you since the first week of school," Pyrrha said, and Jaune turned back to look at her.

"Who? Cardin Winchester? Nah… He just likes to mess around, you know? Practical jokes."

Naruto frowned at Jaune. He made it sound like what Cardin was doing was nothing more than what Naruto did when he played pranks. Practical jokes were supposed to get a laugh out of people, maybe annoy the recipients of the joke as well, but never to harm someone.

"He's a bully," Ruby stated, narrowing her eyes at Cardin.

Jaune tried to deny the claim, but everyone was quick to point out the clear instances where Cardin had bullied Jaune. The most notable of which was the time that he had pushed Jaune into a rocket-propelled locker and sent him flying to some random place on the campus.

"I didn't land far from the school," Jaune replied.

"Jaune, you know if you ever need help you can just ask…" Pyrrha told him.

Nora stood up quickly. "Ooh! We'll break his legs!" She suggested passionately.

"I vote for castration with a rusty blade." The sadistic gleam in Suigetsu's eyes made Naruto scoot a little further away from him.

"Guys, really, I'm fine." Jaune stood up with his plate as he prepared to leave "Besides, it's not like he's just a jerk to me; he's a jerk to everyone."

Cardin was still picking on the Faunus girl and was roughly pulling on her ears.

"Ow, that hurts!" She exclaimed. "Please, stop."

Cardin ignored the girl and continued his abuse. Naruto watched as Jugo, who had been heading to the table they were sitting on, deviated from his course and began walking over to the table Cardin was at.

"Oh, this is going to be good." Naruto grinned and kept his eyes glued on Cardin, fully prepared to watch him get his just deserts.

Jugo walked up to Cardin and looked down at him. Cardin paused, and he let go of the girl's ears. He tried not to look nervous at the imposing figure of Jugo but failed miserably.

"She told you to stop, Cardin," Jugo said with a terrifying yet impassive gaze. "And you picking on her is disturbing the others here who are trying to eat."

"Oh, what's it to you? She's just a filthy Faunus."

Cardin reached for the girl's ears again but was intercepted by Jugo. He tightly grabbed Cardin's hand, steadily adding the pressure he applied to it. It didn't take long for an expression of pain to find its way onto Cardin's face.

"I'm asking you to stop. She's done nothing wrong and is just as human as you or me." The crack in Cardin's wrist was nearly audible, and his teammates had long since abandoned him. "You're going to promise to leave her alone, and then I'll let go of your hand."

"Alright! Alright!" Cardin cried out. "I promise! I'll leave her alone, just don't break my hand!"

Jugo relaxed his grip, and Cardin was quick to get away from him, sending a spiteful glare at Jugo. Jugo turned to the girl and picked up the camera that she had dropped in the commotion. He handed it to her, and she put it away.

"Thank you," she said quietly, smiling at him. "I'm Velvet."

"My name's Jugo." Jugo shook her hand, taking care not to accidentally use too much force. "I don't like people like Cardin, and I couldn't stand to see him hurting a fellow student like that."

Naruto and Suigetsu began to clap for Jugo, making him look over to see the shocked faces of everyone at the nearby table. He said goodbye to Velvet as she left and sat down next to Suigetsu.

"That was awesome!" Yang exclaimed, and everyone was quick to agree. "I swear it looked like he was going to need a new pair of underwear at any second."

"Jugo's a sucker when it comes to cute girls," Suigetsu said teasingly, and Karin decided to join in.

"He'll deny it, but cute girls and animals are his mortal weaknesses. So he had no choice but to help someone in need who is a combination of those two things."

"..." Jugo stared at Suigetsu and Karin with slight annoyance and began eating his food.

"Hear that, Ruby?" Yang looked at her sister with a grin. "Put on some cat ears or something and you can have Jugo wrapped around your finger."

"Yang!" Ruby shouted in embarrassment, eyes flickering over to Naruto slightly. Naruto nearly choked on his food as he laughed. The image of Jugo being bossed around by Ruby in a cat costume was just too hilarious.

As Suigetsu and Karin put away their quarreling to join forces in teasing their teammate, Naruto finished up his meal and cleaned up his mess. He saw Jaune leave the building and decided to give a little bit of support and advice to him.

"Hey, Jaune!" Naruto ran up and placed a hand on Jaune's shoulder. "Listen, don't let Cardin get to you. He may think that you're the weakest link on your team, but-"

"Well, I am," Jaune exclaimed, throwing his arms up in the air. "I can barely swing my sword to save my life, and I didn't even know what Aura was until Pyrrha told me in the initiation."

"So?" Naruto looked at him with raised brows. "What does it matter when you learned about Aura or how badly you've swung a blade before. Those things don't affect the future you."

Jaune scratched his head. "What?"

"I used to be a lot like you. I started off as someone who didn't really have a lot of power and was pretty useless in a fight because deep down I didn't believe in my own strength." Naruto pointed at Jaune's weapon. "All you need to do is learn how to use your strengths that you already have and train up the parts of yourself that need it, like your swordsmanship."

"So are you going to train me or something?"

Naruto laughed. "Oh, heck no, dattebayo! I suck at teaching people." Naruto looked over to the other three members of Team JNPR who were approaching towards them. "Our fighting styles are too different anyway, but you have teammates who will always be there to help you through anything. In fact… Doesn't Pyrrha use a sword and shield too? Ask her to help train you. I'm sure she'd be glad to."

Jaune looked at Naruto's broad grin, and it was too contagious for him not to smile as well.

"Thanks, Naruto. I needed to hear that."

Before he could run off, Naruto grinned mischievously. "Despite what I said, there is one training exercise you and your team could do. It will help to improve your stealth and teamwork, along with your ability to work under pressure."

* * *

Jiraiya crouched on the tree branch as he saw the incoming figure, who was the Devourer according to his toads. The man looked little like the blurry photograph. He was lean and tall, with bright crimson hair. He wore a nice suit and looked like he had just come from a business meeting. Jiraiya was unable to spot a weapon but assumed that it was hidden within his clothes.

Jiraiya ran through a few hand signs and prepared to use a jutsu the moment he came into range. Each step seemed to take longer as the Devourer approached.

'Now!' Jiraiya jumped off the branch he was sitting on. " _Katon: Endan!_ "

Several large balls of fire shot from his mouth and enveloped the Devourer inside. Jiraiya didn't relax his guard, though. He doubted that someone with such a dangerous reputation would be taken out so quickly.

Sure enough, the smoke soon cleared and revealed a shield made of water floating in front of Devourer's open hand. The water dropped to the ground, and he smiled.

"I expected someone would come to prevent me from reaching Vale." He stared at Jiraiya with a curious glance. "Who are you? One of Ozpin's new dogs?"

Jiraiya smirked. "I'm glad you asked." Jiraiya began doing kabuki poses as he introduced himself. "From the far off land of Mount Myoboku, the man who makes women swoon and men drop to their knees in despair when they see his awesomeness, I am the gallant sage of toads, Jiraiya!"

The Devourer's smile never dropped. "I enjoy people who have a penchant for theatrics such as yourself. I wish we didn't have to be on opposite sides of the battlefield. You would have made an excellent comrade."

Jiraiya watched as he reached into a pouch on his belt and tossed something into his mouth. Moments after, his body began to grow larger until he looked more like the heavily muscled monster that had been in the photograph.

Along with the increase in size, the Devourer's shirt had begun to rip at certain points, allowing Jiraiya to finally catch a glimpse of his weapon. Instead of a traditional weapon, the man was covered in dust infused tattoos that circled around his arms, legs, and torso. Jiraiya began trying to figure out exactly how the marks worked, but it wasn't long before he got a demonstration.

The markings glowed and the Devourer slammed his hand into the ground. A split second later, Jiraiya had to dash away from spikes of earth trying to impale him.

Jiraiya blocked a punch thrown at him and retaliated with a strike of his own. Devourer was sent sliding along the ground, but he shot a gust out of his hand to slow down.

Jiraiya made a single hand seal, and then his hair became as sharp and strong as steel blades. " _Ranjishigami no Jutsu!_ "

Jiraiya's hair grew longer and launched towards Devourer, forming into the shape of a lion's maw. Devourer grunted in pain as the attack made contact and did his best to protect his vital organs.

"That's a pretty impressive ability," he complimented Jiraiya before disappearing. "I think I might take it out for a test spin."

Jiraiya looked around before he felt a sharp pain in his shoulder and saw his opponent biting down on him. Jiraiya slammed his fist into Devourer's face and briefly glanced at the wound. It wasn't too bad, but he would definitely have to do something after he was done here to make sure it didn't get infected.

"Oh, this feels weird." Devourer looked at his hand before forming them into a crude Snake hand seal. "Let's see if this works."

Jiraiya's eyes widened when he saw his opponent use a smaller and less powerful version of the Ranjishigami no Jutsu. He shouldn't even have chakra, let alone be able to mold it to that level.

Jiraiya made several more hand signs, knowing that he had to finish this guy even quicker if he had the ability to use chakra.

" _Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu!_ "

An inferno came out of Jiraiya's mouth and followed the Devourer's hair back to its source and enveloped him in flames.

Before his opponent could catch his breath, Jiraiya ran forward and formed a Rasengan in one hand, slamming it into the stomach of his opponent.

Devourer crashed into a nearby tree and weakly stood to his feet. He had transformed back to normal, and he wiped a bit of blood that was leaking from his mouth.

"Not bad," he said, "I haven't had this much fighting someone in a while. Unfortunately, I must take my leave. I have a mission to complete, and I doubt I could survive this fight if you went all out. See you later."

He threw something into his mouth before turning invisible. Jiraiya tried to capture him but was unable to find him.

Jiraiya cursed. He reached up to the wound on his shoulder and pulled out his medical supplies. As he began taking care of the injury, he thought back to his fight. The Devourer's abilities were much more dangerous than he had anticipated.

His dust tattoos allowed him to use some pretty devastating attacks, especially if he was able to combine the dust, and he could never be disarmed like other human opponents normally could. And although Jiraiya didn't have concrete proof yet, he believed that the Devourer's ability was not shapeshifting. In fact… it seemed more like he was copying the powers and abilities of Grimm, and even Jiraiya himself. The only question Jiraiya had was if it was permanent or not.

Jiraiya stood to his feet. Regardless of how Devourer's abilities worked, Jiraiya had slowed him down. He would have to heal from the wounds of this battle. That would give Jiraiya and Ozpin time to plan out a counter strategy. It was time to head back to Beacon.

"I wonder how those brats are doing?"

* * *

"You are a cruel and horrible person, Naruto," Suigetsu said. "I knew we became friends for a reason."

Naruto, Karin, and Suigetsu were watching Team JNPR struggle with the task that Naruto had given them. They were trying to sneak into a room and place a special seal on a spot on the floor. They had to not get caught by any of the teachers, and Professor Goodwitch was precariously close to their location.

Naruto hadn't told them everything about this "training exercise" because they probably wouldn't have accepted otherwise. In reality, they were helping him prank Professor Goodwitch with the seal that he had given them. He grinned as he saw Ren and Nora desperately trying to find a place to hide before they were caught.

Naruto watched Karin take the Icha-Icha book away from Suigetsu, who let out a quiet shout of anger.

"I can't believe you're reading this garba-" Karin stopped as she saw whatever was written on the page. "I didn't know that was even possible."

To the surprise of Naruto and Suigetsu, she flipped to the front and actually began reading it. Deciding that it was a good thing his partner had taken an interest in the Icha-Icha series, Suigetsu began reading over her shoulder instead of stealing the book back.

Naruto chuckled at the two and checked the time real quick. He stood up and looked to his teammates.

"Suigetsu, Karin, keep an eye on them. I've got to go meet whoever sent me that message earlier."

Suigetsu waved his hand. "Yeah, yeah. Just don't do anything stupid, I doubt Karin wants another cousin running around in nine months."

"What do you mean?" Naruto questioned, and Suigetsu groaned at how dense he was.

"Never mind. I don't think she'll have to worry about that anytime soon."

Naruto ran towards the front of the school, leaving Suigetsu to watch Team JNPR while Karin blushed as she read the contents of the book.

When he reached the statue, the area was devoid of life, and he began wondering if this was just some elaborate joke. Before he turned and walked away, he heard a click and froze up.

Spinning around, he saw Blake pointing her weapon right at his head. He gulped and saw the hard stare she was giving him.

"We need to talk." Staring directly into his eyes, she asked, "What are you?"

Naruto gave her a confused look as he tried to figure out what this could possibly be about.

"'What am I?'" Naruto repeated, and Blake nodded. "I'm Naruto Uzumaki, -ttebayo!"

"That's not what I meant. Ever since I first saw you, you've given off the feeling of a Grimm. I was so sure of that fact, but you can't be one since you have Aura. The air of hatred, anger, and evil around you is still there, but you're not a Grimm… So what exactly are you?"

Naruto looked at his stomach. So she could sense it, much like Karin was able to He pulled up his jacket above his stomach and molded his chakra so that the seal appeared on his abdomen.

"It's a bit hard to explain. You might want to sit down."

* * *

Yang looked at the empty bed of Blake's and looked over to Ruby and Weiss. "Do either of you know where Blake went?"

"She said that she'd be back later. Nothing else," Weiss replied, looking through the schedule for the next few days on her Scroll.

Yang nodded, but then noticed the distracted look on Ruby's face and went up to her.

"Hey, Ruby, are you thinking about some crazy way to upgrade Crescent Rose. Or does Dad have to worry that some guy has stolen his precious little daughter's heart." Yang began laughing. "Man, I crack myself up. The day you get a crush on something that's not a weapon is the-"

"Yang, have you ever been in love?" The question made both Yang and Weiss do a double take.

"Oh my gosh, I was right." Yang grinned as she approached Ruby. "So who is it? Give me all the details."

"She doesn't have to tell us if she doesn't want to, Yang," Weiss said, before looking desperately at her leader. "It's not Suigetsu, is it?"

Ruby shook her head, getting a sigh of relief from Weiss. "No."

Yang began muttering to herself. "Not Suigetsu. Probably not someone who's mean. Most likely a friend. Carry the nine… Is it Naruto?"

Ruby's red face was all the answer Yang needed. She let out a cheer before tightly embracing her sister.

"But he's probably already got someone back home," Ruby mentioned, and Yang pulled back to look at her sister worriedly. "Besides, even if he doesn't, I doubt he'd choose me over someone as beautiful as you, Yang."

Yang's heart wrenched. She knew that she had good looks and frequently bragged about it. To hear Ruby doubt her own chances with a guy because of that, it frustrated Yang. Ruby was too sweet and kind sometimes, and it caused her to think of others before herself in situations where she didn't have to. Sure, Yang had made a few passing comments about going out with Naruto, but she had never really been all that serious about that.

"Ruby, not all guys care about how a girl looks. Naruto seems like the type of person who would love a girl for who she is on the inside." Yang pumped her fist into the air. "Ruby, I promise that I'm going to help you with this. Operation 'Make Naruby Happen' is a go!"

"'Naruby'?" Weiss questioned.

"Yes, it's the name I'm giving to the relationship between the two of them."

The two shorter girls sweatdropped, but Ruby quickly smiled at her sister. "Thank you, Yang. You're the best."

"And don't you forget it!" Yang placed her hands on her hips with a confident smirk. Let the plotting commence!

* * *

 _Katon: Endan_ /Fire Release: Flame Bullet

 _Ranjishigami no Jutsu_ /Wild Lion's Mane Jutsu

 _Katon: Ryuuka no Jutsu_ /Fire Release: Dragon's Flame Jutsu

* * *

 **And the first introduction and taste of the Devourer's abilities is here. Although the battle was short because I didn't want to give away too many of his abilities and he would be unable to beat Jiraiya anyway. And yes, this story's pairing is Naruto/Ruby. Just asking, is that last scene with Ruby, Yang, and Weiss too awkward, or is it okay? Writing stuff like that isn't my strong suit, and I hope I managed to keep everyone in character.**

 **Also, a bit of Naruto and Jaune bonding, with more Team JNKS and Team JNPR interactions coming next chapter. Also the Velvet's first appearance, with Jugo coming in to help her out. And a little bit of humor with Karin getting interested in Icha-Icha in the end, because I've always thought she'd be a closet reader of the series.**

 **And now time to answer some reviews:**

blue-hart: Don't worry, Naruto will not be some overpowered monster due to his Jinchurikki status, but compared to most of the RWBY characters many of the Naruto characters have the advantage in a fight. Also, the reason I didn't make Jugo the leader was because he is always shown as more of a follower of the one who can reign him in, which is Naruto in this case, which is a personality trait carried over into this story.

Guest(1): I am thinking of Naruto getting some type of weapon, nothing too big, but it would be related to the chakra blades that he uses in the Naruto vs. Sasuke OVA(Can't remember the actual name). I've always thought those things were cool, but as far as I know, Naruto never used

Cmedina1: Yeah, the Akatsuki could easily deal with most of the huntsmen at Beacon. Except maybe Ozpin. He was able to go toe to toe with Cinder after she got the Fall Maiden's powers, and we still don't know exactly what happened to him. I plan to show the difference in power between a huntress and a member of the Akatsuki in the arc right after this one.

Guest(2): Yes, Naruto is going to be paired with Ruby, and I do have plans for Jugo to be paired with someone from the RWBY universe.


	5. Give Me Your Power Nine-Tails!

**Just a quick warning, this chapter has a bit more violence than any previous chapters. Nothing too gory or descriptive, but I just wanted to warn you guys. Also, Devourer will reveal his true colors this chapter as a creep on par with Orochimaru.**

 **Oh, and I'm not going to show the entire conversation Naruto had with Blake in this chapter.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 5:**_

 _ **Give Me Your Power, Nine-Tails! Team JNKS Coordinated Assault!**_

Blake looked up and thought about what Naruto had told her. She had been completely wrong about him and had discriminated against him for no reason. She didn't miss the irony of her, a Faunus, becoming exactly the kind of person she had always struggled against.

After hearing what he had been through all his life, Blake's respect for Naruto had grown tremendously.

He had been hated and shunned for his entire life, facing the same pain that many Faunus did, and yet he was able to look past it and work towards a future to protect the same people who were against him. Blake didn't think that she would have that level of strength.

Naruto had a demon sealed inside of him, which definitely explained what she felt around him. Yet, he didn't seem to mind.

Blake wished that she could find the man who had sealed the demon into Naruto and slap him. She couldn't understand why anyone would doom a child to that kind of life. But Naruto seemed to have a great respect for the man who had sealed the creature inside him. Now that she knew more about him, Blake actually felt like Naruto was more of an enigma than before.

"Mmm. Monkeys have my money…"

Turning onto her side, Blake saw Ruby talking in her sleep, and she smiled. She knew now that not all humans were as bad as she had once thought… And maybe one day, she could show Adam this as well. Then, things could go back to how they once were, before he became the leader of the White Fang.

* * *

The Devourer entered the abandoned warehouse, his Aura having almost finished healing his wounds from his battle with that Jiraiya man. He passed by several people on his way to the man standing at the back.

The orange haired man wore a bowler hat and a white suit. "Reed! It has been a while. Have you put on some weight?"

"Roman, I thought I've told you not to call me by name where everyone can hear you," Devourer said with an annoyed tone. "Where are my employers? I was told they would meet me here."

"Right. They're in the back, a couple of messengers. I guess they didn't want to send any of the higher ups all the way out here."

Devourer nodded, leaving Roman to boss around his grunts.

In the back room, a pair of men were sitting down and polishing their weapons. They looked up as he entered and then put away the small knives. Each of them wore a rebreather and a headband with a metal plate that was engraved with markings that looked like rain.

"So you're the Devourer?" One of them questioned with a thick accent. "You don't look like much."

"I assure you that I am strong enough for this mission." He looked down at his hands. "This body is just unflattering to my true strength."

"Do you have a plan for capturing the container of the Nine-tails?"

"Of course. According to the information that my comrades have collected, the students of Beacon will be taking a trip to the Forest of Forever Fall tomorrow. I will make my move then."

Both of the Akatsuki's messengers shared a look and stood up. "We'll be waiting for you to deliver the Nine-tails's container then, and you'll be paid as promised."

"Thank you." Devourer saw one of his subordinates enter the door and smiled. "Would you two like to stay for dinner. It is the least I can do for guests."

The two Amegakure ninja decided to accept the invitation, their empty stomachs being the main factor in the decision.

"Good. Rosaria, please take these men to the freezer to see what they'd like to eat. I'll be reviewing the reports until dinner is ready."

The woman who walked up to them looked like she was a Faunus. She had two antennae sticking out of her head, and a second pair of arms on her midsection. She wore a tank top that revealed her midriff and a pair of jeans.

They followed the women through the warehouse until they reached a large freezer. But when she opened up it up, their eyes widened in horror.

Along with things like cow and pig meat, they could see various species of Grimm frozen near the back. They were still alive but had chunks of flesh ripped out of them. But the worst part was the human bodies they saw.

Rosaria turned to them, and she smiled as if the sight inside didn't affect her at all. She asked them what they would like, and they gulped before answering.

* * *

Naruto yawned, stretching his arms in an attempt to shake his sleepiness off. Why did he choose to stay up late last night? Suddenly a blast of cold water hit him straight in the face, and his eye shot open completely.

He saw a grinning Suigetsu holding a now empty bucket. "There ya go! Now you're awake."

"Thanks," Naruto replied dryly. Suigetsu gave him a thumbs up before walking out of the room laughing. Naruto shook his head as he finished getting dressed, and he joined his team out in the hallway.

Karin handed him a towel so that he could dry off his head, which Naruto did as they began heading out of the dorms. On the way, the met up with Team JNPR. Jugo saw the small dark circles under Jaune's eyes and asked him what was wrong.

"What? Nothing." Jaune replied and rubbed his eyes. "Me and Pyrrha just stayed up late last night to train."

Naruto patted him on the back, and Jaune stumbled slightly from the force.

"So you took my advice, huh?" Naruto turned to Pyrrha. "How's he doing?"

"We've only just started training," Pyrrha answered, "but Jaune was already showing a little improvement by the end."

Naruto grinned. He knew Jaune had it in him, all he needed was a little push to get him on the right track. Naruto hoped this would also help Jaune with his problem with Cardin.

"Mr. Uzumaki," the stern voice of Professor Goodwitch rang out behind them. The group turned in unison, and what they saw was enough to make Naruto laugh, Suigetsu snicker, all of Team JNPR pale in fear, and Karin and Jugo groan.

Professor Goodwitch's hair was dyed a bright neon orange, along with traces of yellow, red, green, and pink. Her eyes were narrowed, and the

"Naruto!" Jaune shouted in a desperate panic, his voice almost cracking. "What did you do?"

Nora grabbed Naruto and began shaking him. "Are you trying to get us killed? Even I know not to mess with Professor Goodwitch!"

"What are you talking about?" The look on Naruto's face sent shivers down Jaune's spine. "You guys helped me with that prank."

Everything clicked in the heads of Team JNPR, remembering the activity they had done for Naruto the night before. They quickly ditched Team JNKS in an attempt to save their own skins from the storm of fury that was about to undoubtedly pour down on Naruto.

"We're sorry!" Pyrrha called out as they went out of view.

"Traitors," Naruto muttered before turning to Professor Goodwitch. "What's up?"

Naruto didn't cower at her glare. "Ozpin would like to see all four of you."

"But we didn't do anythi-" Suigetsu stopped when she looked at him. "Yes, ma'am."

The four followed Professor Goodwitch to Ozpin's office, each of Naruto's teammates what kind of prank he had pulled to get them all in this mess. Once there, they saw the familiar spiky white hair they all recognized.

"Ero-sennin!" Naruto exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"

"How many times have I told you to quit calling me that!" Jiraiya bopped Naruto on the head, but he had a small smile on his face.

Professor Goodwitch whispered something to Ozpin, and then she left the six of them alone. Naruto looked back at the retreating figure of their sparring instructor.

"Where's Professor Goodwitch going? She better not forget us up here."

"Naruto Uzumaki," Ozpin said, folding his hands in front of him, "you and your team will not be going to Forever Fall today."

It took all of three seconds for Naruto, Karin, and Suigetsu to react. "WHAT?!"

"If I may ask, why are we staying behind?" Jugo asked before things got hectic. He knew how much his teammates had been looking forward to this trip, and they had been super excited when it was announced that it was getting moved forward. He figured it was best to get to the reason why they weren't going as quick as possible.

Jiraiya looked over to Naruto. "The Akatsuki have sent someone to capture Naruto, and the chance that he'll attack today is almost guaranteed."

"We used the trip to Forever Fall as an excuse to get the rest of the students away from the school. I was originally going to send Jugo, Karin, and Suigetsu away as well, but Jiraiya convinced me that it would be better if they were by your side if you're attacked."

Naruto wanted to complain, but he could find nothing wrong with the argument they gave. He crossed his arms in front of his chest and grumbled out an agreement.

"Stupid Akatsuki," Suigetsu muttered as the four of them began heading back to their dorm room, while Jiraiya went to keep an eye on the perimeter of the school along with the other teachers.

"We always knew it was a possibility that they could come for Naruto. Jiraiya told us before we left for Beacon, remember?" Jugo said, and Suigetsu huffed as he shoved his hands into his pockets.

"Oh well," Naruto said. "If we're stuck here, I might as well make the most of it. I'm going to practice using _that_ jutsu without your help, Jugo!"

"Just be careful," Karin told him. "I don't want to have to reattach your arm because you made a stupid mistake."

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be fine."

They watched Naruto run out toward the courtyard, and all three of them shared a look.

"I'll go make sure he doesn't kill himself," Jugo volunteered. Karin and Suigetsu nodded, and Jugo followed their leader outside.

* * *

"This looks like a nice tree," Yang commented. "What do you think, guys?"

The members of Team RWBY all approached the tree Yang was standing in front of. Professor Goodwitch had assigned all the students to collect the sap from the trees in Forever Fall.

Agreeing with Yang, all four began to drain sap into the containers they had been given.

"Hey, Blake," Yang said. "You weren't there last night, but I'm probably going to need your help with some of my plans for 'Operation Make Naruby Happen.'"

Blake's eyebrows raised. "Do I even want to know?"

"It's Yang's plan to help Ruby get together with Naruto," Weiss explained, topping off her jar. "I personally think it's stupid. Yang needs to let Ruby do this kind of thing on her own."

"I'm right here, you guys," Ruby exclaimed. "Don't talk like I'm not here."

Blake turned to her leader. "And how do you know that you love Naruto?"

"Uh… It's like this weird feeling in my stomach. Like I'm about to throw up, but better."

Ruby's teammates all blinked as they silently tried to comprehend her analogy. Blake sighed. "I'm not sure if I'd necessarily call that love. It sounds more like you have an infatuation with Naruto. That's not to say that you can't love him, but I think that you need to spend more time with him, to learn more about him, before you can truly call it love."

Yang snapped her fingers. "All right, you heard the Love Guru. Ruby, you need to get closer to Naruto. Let's see... We'll need a gym equipment room that can lock from the outside, an excuse to get Naruto and Ruby in there, and then something to distract Professor Goodwitch."

Blake's eyes twitched, partly at the title given to her by Yang. "I think you missed the point of what I said."

Yang and Blake began to argue about how Ruby should get to know Naruto, and Ruby laughed sheepishly.

The peace was broken when Team RWBY heard the sound of flapping wings and their Aura warned them of something dangerous nearby. They all activated their weapons and turned to face the sound.

In the air above them was a man with two bird-like wings sticking out from his back. Ruby tightened her grip on Crescent Rose, she had a bad feeling about this guy.

"You must be team RWBY. It's a pleasure to meet you." The man looked at the four girls, as if judging their strength. "I've heard you're good friends with Naruto Uzumaki, so I've decided to use you to lure him out."

"So you're after Naruto, huh?" Yang asked and loaded Ember Celica. "Well, you'll have to go through us first."

With unbelievable speed, he appeared behind Yang. "Don't worry. I plan to."

He kicked her in the back, and she went crashing through the trees

The other three members of RWBY tried to attack him, but he dodged out of the way. Something glowed under his clothes, and a powerful blast of air made it hard for them to stay standing.

"I've been gathering intel for weeks. I know all of your weaknesses." He flew over to Ruby and quickly disarmed her of Crescent Rose, throwing the Sniper-scythe far away from the girl.

"No!"

"You, for instance," the man said, "are defenseless without your weapon."

He placed a set of shackles around her wrists and ankles, trapping her in place, before turning to the others. Weiss launched herself at the man using her glyphs, but he dodged out of the way and slapped her out of the air using his wing.

Blake tried to use her semblance to surprise him, but her trick was seen through. Something began glowing under his shirt, and his fist became encased in rock. Blake managed to endure the pain in her stomach when he hit her, and she swung Gambol Stroud at the man.

His Aura defended him, and he then bit down on Blake's outstretched arm. Blake let out a shout of pain and dropped to the ground.

Holding her bleeding arm, she looked up to see the man chewing on the small portion of her skin that he had bitten off.

"Hmm, not bad. I don't think I've ever tasted anyone with a flavor as unique as yours."

"You're sick." Blake let her Aura heal her arm back up, thankful that the wound wasn't too bad.

Yang and Weiss came up to stand beside Blake, and Yang's eyes were a bright crimson. She glared at the man holding her sister.

"You're going to regret trying to fight us." Yang punched one fist into the palm of her other hand as the other two quickly readied themselves for their next strike.

* * *

Glynda Goodwitch stared at the woman in front of her. It seemed like Ozpin's efforts to protect the students had failed, as the Devourer and his subordinates had come here instead of looking for Naruto. She watched the strange woman send the several men and women around her to follow their leader further into the forest.

Professor Goodwitch glanced back at the four teens that made up Team JNPR. "Mr. Arc, take your teammates and warn Professor Ozpin of the situation here. I will deal with this woman."

"Hahahaha!" The Faunus woman laughed as bugs swarmed around her. "The old hag thinks that she can beat me? I am Master's right-hand woman, Rosaria."

Jaune didn't protest, he could tell that they wouldn't be of much help in this battle. Professor Goodwitch could take down that crazy lady quickly, the biggest problem was the man she had come with. He had headed towards the direction where Jaune had seen Team RWBY go to collect their sap.

Jaune saw Professor Goodwitch raise her riding crop and the leaves around them began swirling violently.

He turned to his teammates. "Come on, we need to find a way to contact Professor Ozpin."

As they left the battle between the two women behind, Jaune got on his Scroll and began calling Naruto. Since he was back at Beacon, he could relay the message back to Professor Ozpin.

As soon as Naruto answered, Jaune began filling him on what was happening. Pyrrha, Nora, and Ren made sure to add in anything that he forgot. Naruto's eyes were unreadable, and Jaune got the feeling that he was going to end up doing something stupid.

After the screen went blank, Jaune put away his Scroll.

"AGHHH!" The sound of screaming reached their ears, and Team JNPR stopped in their tracks.

"That sounded like Team CRDL," Pyrrha noted, looking at her leader. "Jaune?"

Jaune's hands clenched as he tried to decide what to do. His mind fought between doing what was right and letting Cardin get what was coming to him. With a sigh, he faced the direction the scream had come from.

"Cardin may be a jerk, but he's still a fellow student. We can't just leave him to die."

Pyrrha smiled as the four of them changed course.

"Now we can break their legs and blame it on whatever was attacking them."

"Nora," Ren berated, "we're not going to break anyone's legs."

The pout on Nora's face would have been funny if the situation around them wasn't so dangerous. The day had transformed from a simple field trip to Forever Fall into a battle.

When they found Team CRDL, the four bullies were pinned between two super large Ursai, their weapons knocked from their hands.

Jaune looked over his shoulder.

"Nora, can you and Ren take the one on the left?" Both nodded. "Pyrrha, you and me will take the one on the right."

With another nod, all four charged into the fray. Nora let out a battle cry that was a louder and more insane version of her interpretation of what a sloth sounded like. The loud sound made both Ursai turn from their previous prey.

Ren kept their Ursa distracted by firing at it, while Nora ran up and slammed its head into the ground with Magnhild. She shot several rounds as well, driving the Ursa farther into the ground and cracking the earth around the site of impact.

"I think that was a bit of overkill," Ren muttered as he looked at the grinning Nora.

"'Overkill' isn't in my dictionary!"

Jaune and Pyrrha approached the surviving Ursa, Pyrrha firing at it using her weapon's shotgun mode. The Ursa roared and reared it's arms up to strike. Pyrrha quickly switched modes to her sword, and she cut the right arm off.

Jaune took a deep breath and held his shield up to block the other arm. A clang resounded through the clearing.

He struggled against the limb, but suddenly he felt like someone else was controlling his shield to help push against the force. Acting quickly, Jaune sliced upwards with his sword, cutting off

He struggled against the limb, but suddenly he felt like someone else was controlling his shield to help push against the force. Acting quickly, Jaune sliced upwards with his sword, cutting off the Ursa's head.

Jaune wiped a bead of sweat from his forehead and rejoined his team.

"Cardin," he said, "find the other students and start getting them away from the forest."

Cardin didn't argue, his team had encountered the strange attackers, but had quickly fled. As much as he didn't want to listen to Jaune, Cardin figured that perhaps if he helped out in this situation, then he could get some sort of reward.

Jaune turned to his team, and the four of them ran off to warn the other students. Hearing the sounds of battle behind him, Jaune desperately hoped that Team RWBY was okay.

* * *

Yang panted as she looked up at the Devourer, as he had told them. He hovered above her, a smug smile showing his confidence that he would win. Yang looked down to see Weiss and Blake who had been captured just like Ruby. They were closely guarded by some men that had shown up partway in the fight, making sure that Yang couldn't free them.

No matter what they tried, all their attacks and strategies had been seen through and thwarted. And the worse part was whenever Devourer bit them, he was able to copy their semblances. He had mocked them by defeating them with their own abilities.

And the entire time, Devourer kept a tight hold onto Ruby, despite her constant fighting and kicking.

Yang was the last one standing, and she wasn't going to lose to him. Anyone who messed with her sister was looking for a butt-kicking into the next millennium.

He held tightly onto Ruby and caressed her face. She struggled and tried to get away from him, but was unable to thanks to her low Aura level. Yang's body shook as she thought of hundreds of different ways to show the man pain worse than death.

"Look at you… So young. So tender. You look absolutely delicious." He softly dragged his hand across her arm, before biting into it. Ruby tried not to let the pain get to her.

"I'm going to kill you," Yang said quietly, as she began trying to figure out how to get Ruby away from him.

"I really should thank Ozpin for accepting such an excellent specimen into his school. Your flesh will taste even more delicious once it's been combined with the others."

"Let go of her, you creep!" Yang shouted, emotions taking control as she rushed the sicko. He easily dodged out of the way and knocked her back to the ground like a fly. She let out a gasp of pain and coughed up blood.

Her Aura was gone.

Images of Beowolves and a younger Ruby in a wheelbarrow flashed through her mind, and Yang punched the ground in frustration.

"Not again," she murmured and shakily stood to her feet, her eyes red with rage. "I'm not going to fail her again. I will protect Ruby no matter what!"

Yang's semblance activated, drawing on the few drops of Aura she could muster, and flames exploded around her. She jumped up and punched Devourer straight in the jaw. But he tanked the hit and looked at her with interest.

"I guess you forgot that I copied your semblance earlier. It was a nice try, though."

Yang screamed in pain as the man drove a fire and lightning covered fist into her stomach, superpowered by the energy of all their attacks. She went flying to the ground, the smell of burnt flesh overpowering her nose.

The Devourer raised his hand up, and a ball of molten fire formed above it. Then, he threw the burning sphere right at her.

Yang braced herself. This was the end. She had failed to protect Ruby all because she wasn't strong enough... She had failed as a sister. A lone tear slipped out of her eye.

 _'I'm sorry, Ruby, Dad, Uncle Qrow.'_

"Yang!" Ruby screamed out. She had already lost her mom, she didn't want to lose Yang too.

Suddenly, Yang felt something softly grab her shoulder and legs. She was whisked out from the path of the attack and found herself sitting on the ground.

Looking up, she saw Naruto glaring up at Devourer, and then he turned to face her with a smile.

"Sorry I'm late, but a true hero always arrives late." He glanced over his shoulder, and his teammates landed on the ground. "Karin, heal her. Suigetsu, Jugo, free the others. Do whatever you have to do. I'll get Ruby."

The three nodded and rushed to their specific tasks. Karin's hands glowed with green energy, and she began to carefully move her hands over the areas of Yang's body with the most severe injuries. Yang watched in amazement as her wounds began healing.

Suigetsu rushed at the men guarding Weiss and Blake. Suigetsu cut one in half using Kubikiribocho, and the man let out a gargled scream of pain. Blake and Weiss looked on in horror as blood splattered on Suigetsu. Suigetsu cut through a second man and saw another trying to run away. He threw Kubikiribocho, impaling the man through the chest, before ripping the blade out.

Jugo transformed his body, punching one man in the chest so hard that his ribs splintered and pierced his heart and lungs. The man fell to the ground in pain, and his death was much slower and more painful than Suigetsu's victims. He tried to cry out but was unable to because of the damage to his lungs. He choked out the broken names of his wife and children.

Jugo made quick work of the other two, decapitating one by turning his arm into an axe, and driving his fist straight through the other's chest with a jet-powered punch.

Naruto activated one of the storage seals in his pouch, and a large fuma shuriken appeared in his hand. He threw it, the spinning blade flying towards the Devourer quickly.

He dodged it, but Naruto quickly put his plan into action. He substituted with the shuriken and launched a swift kick to the Devourer's head, making him drop Ruby in the shock.

Naruto threw a kunai that had wind chakra flowing through it, and it cut through Ruby's restraints.

With her hands and legs free, Ruby used her semblance to get back to the ground safely and grab Crescent Rose.

"Ruby," Naruto called out, "get Yang and get out of here!"

"We can help, Naruto. Don-" Ruby stopped when she saw the look Naruto gave her. It was filled with so much rage, but not directed at her. His eyes had turned red, and his pupils were thin black slits. The whisker marks on his face had thickened, and he had a more animalistic appearance.

"Ruby, you and your team can't beat him because you won't allow yourselves to aim to kill." He looked away from her. "Please… I don't want any of you to see what's about to happen."

Ruby swallowed the lump in the back of her throat before helping Blake grab Yang and rushing away from the area. As they did, she felt an immense amount of hatred, anger, and negative energy flood the area.

She glanced back and saw Naruto cloaked in a weird red aura, making Naruto look like a fox with two tails.

"Be careful, Naruto," she whispered, and turned to Weiss. "Weiss, keep any Grimm away from us."

Naruto watched Team RWBY disappear into the brush and grimaced as he felt the chakra of the Nine-tails burning at his skin. They would have to make this quick. He also didn't want to risk going any higher than three tails, Karin had barely been able to suppress his chakra the last time.

Above them, the Devourer finally regained his bearings from Naruto's surprise attack.

"What's the plan?" Suigetsu questioned, using Kubikiribōchō to bat away a shard of ice that the Devourer fired at them.

"This guy isn't going to stop coming for me until he's dead." Naruto dodged out of the way of a blast of fire. "Which means that everyone else will be in danger unless we kill him."

Jugo gave him a surprised and worried look. "Naruto, are you sure. I know this isn't your first kill, but it will be the first one where you'll actually see the person as their life ends."

"Being a ninja means making tough decisions for the sake of your comrades." Naruto clenched his fists. "I'm more than willing to bear that burden if it means I can protect my friends."

At Naruto's signal, the four began their charge. Jugo leaped up, and Devourer quickly ate a bit of Ursa meat to make his arms stronger. The two began trading blows mid-air. Eventually, Jugo managed to slip past Devourer's defenses and slam his fist into Devourer's face.

The blow sent him flying to the ground, and the Devourer was forced to quickly roll out of the way of Suigetsu swinging his blade.

His tattoos glowed and a flaming zweihänder appeared in his hands, which he used to block the sword swings.

" _Rasengan!_ "

Devourer was sent crashing through the trees when the vermillion colored Rasengan impacted with his side.

Karin jumped behind him and began swinging chakra chains at his arms, legs, and face.

From above, Jugo delivered a literal axe kick, cutting through his aura shield and separating his left arm from his shoulder.

Seeing the situation he was in, Devourer tried to fly up and get the height advantage. To stop him, Suigetsu stood beside Karin and weaved together several hand signs. Karin began flowing lightning chakra through her hand and held it ready.

Suigetsu shot out a torrent of water shaped like a dragon, and Karin added her lightning chakra to it.

" _Raisuiryudan!_ "

The attack made contact, and the electric shock mixed with the force of the water forced Devourer back to the ground.

"NOT YET!" He shouted and slammed his hand onto the ground. The earth beneath them began to shake, and Team JNKS began to quickly dodge and destroy the spikes of earth that shot out at them.

As soon as that stopped, the Devourer pointed his hand into the air, and molten spheres of earth along with sharp ice spears began appearing around his body and flew towards them.

"I'm gonna use _that_! Don't let those things hit me."

Karin, Jugo, and Suigetsu nodded in affirmation as they took up positions to guard their leader from the flaming rocks that were being sent at them.

As his three teammates began taking out the many projectiles being thrown at them, Naruto formed two shadow clones without the Nine-tails chakra. He could see that they were struggling not to pop due to himself being in the Nine-tails cloak. Working quickly, the came over and placed their hands above his.

A Rasengan began forming in his hand, and Naruto made sure to not let the Nine-tails chakra affect it. Doing it normally was already plenty dangerous to himself, he didn't want to think what would happen if he added the Nine-tails chakra.

Naruto couldn't just cut off the Nine-tails chakra, because he needed the extra speed to make sure Devourer didn't dodge.

The Rasengan began to grow larger, and four points appeared on it. It grew in size until he was holding a giant Rasengan that's appearance looked like that of a fuma shuriken.

Devourer saw the technique and quickly tried to make a move. His entire body glowed brightly. Earth, fire, water, lightning, ice, and steam surrounded him. He launched an all-out assault with all he had, throwing everything at Team JNKS.

"Let's go!" Naruto shouted and began dashing towards Devourer. Suigetsu ran forward, cutting through many of his projectiles on his way to him.

" _Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu!_ " Suigetsu drew from the water generated by Devourer and shot out a dragon of water from his mouth. It shot toward Devourer, who was quick to try to dodge.

Suigetsu expected this and merged his body with the water of the jutsu. He jumped out and sliced off Devourer's other arm, making him shout in pain and aggravation.

With only the tattoos on his body, he couldn't make as many new projectiles now, and Jugo ran up and slammed a rocket-propelled fist into his jaw.

Using his stunned state, Karin shot several chakra chains at him, binding him in place as Naruto got closer.

Naruto got into striking distance, and Devourer's eyes widened. Naruto's jutsu slammed into his chest, and it began tearing at Devourer's body.

" _Fuuton: Rasenshuriken!_ "

Devourer screamed as he felt the blades of wind rip apart his body. The attack seemed to separate him cell by cell, cutting through every part of his body without trouble.

The jutsu finished with an explosion of wind that finished Devourer off, and Naruto's eyes clenched shut as some of the tiny wind blades pierced his arms like needles. Devourer glared at Naruto.

Naruto opened his eyes to the sight of light leaving Devourer's eyes, a sight which would be forever ingrained in his memory.

Devourer's lifeless corpse collapsed to the ground, and Naruto stumbled back from the eviscerated body.

As the Nine-tails cloak around him disappeared, he collapsed to the ground. Suigetsu let out a shout of surprise, afraid that the Devourer had managed to do something in his last moments.

"Don't worry," Karin told him as she observed the level of Naruto's chakra, "It's just chakra exhaustion."

"This was a tough battle," Jugo sighed, taking deep breaths. He had lost himself a few times during the fight, but luckily his violent side wanted to kill Devourer so much that he didn't end up attacking his teammates. And he had managed to wrestle control back after Karin suppressed his chakra.

Jugo picked up Naruto and began carrying him over his shoulder. Just across the forest, Ruby suddenly passed out, and Professor Goodwitch said it was because of shock. A captive Rosaria was loudly complaining about how it should have been impossible for her to have been beaten so easily.

Professor Goodwitch looked at all the students present, and she knew that today had left a profound impact on all of them. And not necessarily in a good way for some.

* * *

Roman Torchwick was talking to one of his subordinates, wondering how on the earth they hadn't managed to get past the stupid cops in front of the dust shop he had been charged with robbing.

"-are dumb cops! It's written right there on the map. How do you mess that up?"

Before the man could say anything, his eyes went blank. Roman waved his hand in front of the man's face.

"Roman, get someone to fix me a meal," the man suddenly said, and a smug smirk found its way onto Roman's face.

"Ha, I can't believe you actually died to a bunch of brats, Reed. I thought you were better than that."

"I underestimated them. I was too confident thanks to my intel, but Uzumaki's team used techniques that weren't in my research."

"You know, I think this is your first failed mission." Roman grinned and pulled out Reed's credit card that he had swiped last night. "And you know what that means. Drinks are on you."

"Fine," Reed told him and grabbed the card. "Send the Akatsuki's messenger's back. Tell them that although I failed the mission, I made sure to do something to make Uzumaki easier to capture for them. God knows I'm not going to attempt that again."

"I'll also set up an appointment to get your tattoos back." The joy in Roman's voice at having something new to hold over Reed's head was evident.

"I swear, Roman, if you weren't my ally…"

* * *

 **And thus comes the end of the Devourer Arc. For those confused, here's a little explanation to his abilities:**

 **His semblance allows him to swap the minds of people, essentially giving him immortality. However... this doesn't mean he can live forever.**

 **His ability to copy the abilities of others, such as semblances or chakra usage, is similar to Hidan's ability to survive anything and inflict injuries on others by hurting himself. That means that it's an ability given to him by a devil/god.**

 **Next chapter is going to be what I know a few people have been looking forward to, the conflict of ideals/morals between Huntsmen and Ninjas. Also, the introduction of Team CFVY! Wait... did I say in the last author note that they were going to be in this chapter? Oh well, I'm too lazy to go back and check now, so whatever. Next chapter for sure!**


	6. I Wanna Punch Life in the Face

**Oh, how mortifying. I would like to apologize profusely for the pathetic excuse of a battle I gave you last chapter. I didn't mean to, but I ended up making Team JNKS too overpowered by having them take out the Devourer(A.K.A. Reed)without getting so much as a scratch on them. For that, I apologize as a writer, and have started to rectify that mistake in this chapter with my first retcon(Or whatever that thing that Marvel has to do all the time in their comics is called)! From now on, I promise to do better, and I will stop listening to the One Punch Man soundtrack while writing fights unless they are supposed to be ridiculously one-sided.**

 **This chapter took a while because I honestly wasn't too sure on whether it was good enough or not. This chapter finally showcases the conflict between Huntsmen and Ninja, and I wanted to make sure to do a good job with that. This is the final version, which I'm still not 100% sure if it's good, but we grow as writers through trial-and-error. So whether it be good or bad, I shall learn from this chapter to make the following chapters better.**

 **Also, I meant to release this yesterday, but I ended up deciding to finish Assassination Classroom instead... And boy, I have never cried that much in my life before. Not even when watching Clannad After Story. I had gotten to the point where I was hiccuping, having to pause because I couldn't see, and I couldn't breathe out my nose. For comparison, I only got teary eyed at Clannad. Once I get a little more caught up with the RWBY storyline, I might make some sort of crossover between either Assassination Classroom and Naruto, or Assassination Classroom and RWBY. Give me your opinions and things you might like to see in such a crossover.**

 **And finally, I would like to thank all of you for the overwhelming support you have given this story. Even though it's my first story, this already has 51 reviews, 185 followers, 145 favorites, over 10,000 views, and is in 3 communities at the time of this chapter release. I dedicate this chapter to all of you guys who make writing this even more enjoyable.**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 6:**_

 _ **Sometimes, I Just Really Want to Punch Life in the Face**_

"Yo, Junior, hit me again." Suigetsu cradled his head in his hand, having just downed another shot of whatever kind of alcohol was given to him.

The bearded man raised his brow. "Just make sure you don't drive after this."

Suigetsu's cup was refilled, and he quickly grabbed it. He chugged the liquid down, and he then looked at the almost empty glass. What had happened earlier ran through his mind. The glass shattered as his hand clenched too tight around it.

"Stupid Huntsmen," he muttered, before turning to an annoyed Junior. "Sorry about that, I'll pay for it."

He looked at his hand, uninjured due to his clan's ability, but it still shook violently.

'Curse it all.'

-(Flashback Start!)-

 _Suigetsu looked down at Naruto, who was unconscious and on an infirmary bed, and prodded his body with two fingers. He didn't even twitch._

 _"Oi, you gonna wake up?" Suigetsu looked over to Jugo and Karin. "Maybe I should chop off a limb or something to snap him out of it."_

 _"Shut up, you moron!" Karin exclaimed, punching through his head._

 _"What? He'd grow it back within a week… probably."_

 _Jugo sighed at the banter between the two, before looking over to Ruby's bed. The other members of Team RWBY stood there checking up on their leader. He was unable to ignore the uneasy glances that Blake and Weiss threw their way any longer._

 _"If there is something you would like to say, then say it," he said, getting the attention of Suigetsu and Karin. Blake and Weiss jumped slightly, and seemed rather tense around the three conscious members of Team JNKS._

 _The terse silence that followed was broken by Blake. "You murdered them."_

 _Jugo and Suigetsu instantly knew who they were talking about. The ones who had been guarding Weiss and Blake when they had been captured by Devourer. Probably Devourer himself as well._

 _"So what if we did?" Suigetsu asked, picking his ear. "They were the enemy, and we needed to free you guys. They were in the way."_

 _"...You don't even care, do you?" Weiss questioned and was unnerved by his blank face._

 _"Why should I? Not like I knew them or anything." The grin that overtook his features was enough to send shivers down everyone's spines. "Besides, you'd never understand the beauty of cutting things up like I do. Whether it be Grimm, objects, or people, there's nothing better than hacking them to pieces. No matter how big anything is, it can be turned into something tiny so easily."_

 _"Ignore the idiot," Karin said rubbing her temple in irritation. She adjusted her seat and crossed her legs. "To better answer your question. It's not that we don't care. It's just… We've been prepared for this kind of thing our entire life. And Jugo and Suigetsu have been killing people since they were little."_

 _That statement was enough to shock all of the huntresses in the room. To hear that their friends had been trained to kill as kids and that two of them had been doing it for just as long… It unnerved them. It made them wonder what Team JNKS's homeland was really like._

 _"Our home doesn't have anything like Huntsmen because the Grimm_ are _extremely rare," Jugo explained. "Instead, we're trained from a young age as ninjas."_

 _"And we're nothing like the romanticized version that this place thinks a ninja is," Karin commented, thinking of the Ninjas of Love series. Although in the book's defense, Jiraiya's Icha-Icha series was also highly stylized for certain parts._

 _Yang was the next to speak up. "Why? If the Grimm are so rare in your homeland, then why do you need to know how to fight like that?"_

 _"Because without a common enemy to unite us like you guys, the countries back home are always fighting with each other. So there's a need for soldiers who can fight. Assassinations, sabotage, spying,_ arson _. We're trained in it all." Jugo sat down in his chair, looking over at Naruto._

 _Suigetsu scoffed, standing up and stretching real quick. "Those guys in the woods, they're nothing. I've been killing people since I was like five._ Me _and my brother were considered to be prodigies of murder."_

 _Blake's eyes narrowed. "That's what your government does. They train little kids and send them off to kill people. They turned you four into child soldiers."_

 _"You make it sound like we didn't have a choice," Suigetsu replied, and his teammates could hear the anger beginning to lace its way into his words. "It's no big deal. We're trained to kill other people, so what? If our countries go to war, and we have to fight, it's life."_

 _"It's barbaric," Weiss said harshly, and Suigetsu tensed up. "Kids shouldn't be trained to kill other people, no matter what. In fact, why do you have to kill at all? Knocking out and imprisoning your opponents is a much better solution."_

 _"You wouldn't understand, Washboard. This is the life we lived._ Me _and my brother killed lots of people for our country because we chose that path. No one picked our future for us."_

 _"It just sounds like the two of you were brainwashed."_

 _Weiss's words were the final straw for Suigetsu, and he snapped. To hear these people, who didn't know anything about what it meant to be a ninja, mock their way of life would be something that he'd never be able to just overlook._

 _"Shut up!" Suigetsu shouted out and slammed his fist against the wall, body shaking with rage. "Mangetsu didn't die because he was some brainless slave! He died for his country, for his dream, and I'm not gonna let a bunch of brats who don't know crap disrespect him!"_

 _Jugo placed a hand on his shoulder, "Suigetsu…"_

 _"No, Jugo! These punks need to learn." Suigetsu began approaching the three huntresses. "You guys have it easy, never having to worry about when another country could suddenly attack and start a war, never having to constantly look over your shoulder, never having to deal with the paranoia of wondering if your own comrades will abandon you to complete their mission or save their skins. We did! So you got no right to look down on and judge us for something that you'd never be able to understand! So what if our morals are different from yours? Not everyone has the same frame of mind, unlike how you narrow-minded idiots seem to think."_

 _"But you're brother would still be alive if your home didn't force you to kill, right?" Blake stated, and Suigetsu's fist clenched. Everyone looked at Blake, and even she seemed to be surprised by what she had said._

 _Before anyone could react, Suigetsu punched Blake right in the face. She fell backward and glared at Suigetsu. Yang and Weiss unconsciously got into a fighting stance at the sign of a threat, and Suigetsu scoffed at them._

 _"Oh, what's wrong?" He asked, a psychotic smile splitting across his face and his pupils narrowing. His hand went to the hilt of Kubikiribocho. The three Huntresses flinched. "Afraid of a monster like me?"_

 _"Suigetsu, stop," Jugo commanded, taking control of the situation before it got any worse. Suigetsu turned back around and walked out the door._

-(Flashback End!)-

Resting his head on the counter, Suigetsu sighed.

Mangetsu's death was something that had changed Suigetsu significantly. He had switched his dream from joining the Seven Ninja Swordsmen of the Mist to collecting all seven of their blades in order to reform the group with himself as the leader. It had been put on hold when he had been captured by Orochimaru, but he had been able to resume this goal after Naruto freed him.

Suigetsu smiled slightly. He could still remember the day Naruto had said that he would help Suigetsu to fulfill his dream, and had proven this by showing him the location of Kubikiribocho. On that day, Suigetsu knew that he would follow Naruto anywhere. Sure, he had to give up on killing people all the time, but it was worth it.

Naruto was living proof of how being a ninja didn't equal a heartless murderer because he chose his own way of doing things. It just went to show that just because they were trained to kill didn't mean that they always needed to. But they still needed to know how to just in case they were thrust into a situation where it was required.

Suigetsu also knew that since he originally came from Kirigakure, he wasn't exactly the average ninja when it came to the killing thing. Kiri was infamous for accepting assassination missions, even more so than Ame. Naruto came from Konoha, which very rarely took on assassination missions. Jugo didn't belong to a village and had only killed people because his mind would occasionally go into that berserker mode that only thought about bloodshed. Karin, as far as Suigetsu knew, was from Kusagakure, which was so small that they never really got any big missions at all.

Suigetsu knew that due to the different education and training between them and the Huntsmen, there would be at least some clash of ideals and morals between them.

They still should have been more understanding of a culture that was fundamentally different from their own, though. Even if part of him did wish that back home could have been more like here. Maybe then... Mangetsu would still be alive.

'Heh, no use thinking about stupid what-ifs.'

He stood up but stumbled due to the alcohol in his system. Before he could fall, a couple of people helped him stand to his feet. He looked at them.

"Jugo? Karin?"

"We figured you'd be in a place like this," Karin told him, Suigetsu's right arm propped on her shoulders. "We searched all over town for you. Jugo managed to get us kicked out of one bar a couple blocks down."

Jugo coughed awkwardly and helped hold Suigetsu up on his left side. "We did some more explaining after you left, and Blake and Weiss apologize for what they said. While they still don't understand and don't entirely approve of our training to kill, they said that they'll try not to be as harsh in the future."

"Tch. They better realize that not every place has it as easy as here. I guess I can find the goodness in my heart that will allow me to forgive them" Suigetsu grinned. "But they'll have to get on their knees and beg the great Lord Suigetsu for it."

"Don't even think about it, you moron."

"Fine."

* * *

Naruto lazily sat up in bed and rubbed his eyes. He wondered where he was, and then he remembered passing out after the fight with Devourer. An image of Devourer's lifeless eyes flashed within Naruto's mind.

He quickly tried to shake it away, he couldn't get too hung up on it now. What was done was done, and he knew that he had done it to protect his friends. Besides, Jiraiya had told him long ago that he couldn't get hung up on the guilt of taking someone's life for too long. Especially the life of someone you had defeated in battle. Not because they were heartless, but because it would be disrespectful.

Naruto stood up and stretched, before feeling the overwhelming urge to use the bathroom. He walked out of the infirmary and towards the restrooms, his urge to pee overpowering the question of why he felt more top-heavy than usual.

Walking into the bathroom, he noticed Jaune, who seemed to panic at the sight of him.

"What are you doing in here?!"

Naruto ignored him and entered the nearest stall. Outside, Jaune stared at the stall for several second before a loud shout pierced the air.

"It's gone, dattebayo!" Naruto quickly ran out of the stall and to the mirror, where he was greeted with the image of Ruby's face. He let out another scream before he ran over to Jaune and grabbed him by the collar.

"Jaune, you have to help me!" He pleaded. "What is going on?"

"Ruby, what's wrong?"

"No!" Naruto shouted, shaking Jaune violently before letting him go and pointing to himself. "It's not Ruby! It's me, Naruto, -ttebayo!"

Before Jaune could question it any further another scream came from the girl's bathroom. Naruto and Jaune ran over there to see Ruby in Naruto's body stumbling out of the girl's bathroom.

"Why am I in Naruto's body?" She exclaimed before noticing Naruto. "My body!"

Naruto ran up to her and grabbed her shoulders. He had a brilliant idea to fix the problem. "Ruby, if our minds are switched then maybe hitting our heads together will fix it."

Ruby quickly nodded, and then the two headbutted each other. They fell back while rubbing their foreheads.

"It didn't work!" She cried, and the two stood up again. Standing shoulder to shoulder, they began thinking.

"Maybe if we get everyone together, they can figure out a way to fix this."

The two of them split up to go gather their respective teams, leaving Jaune to sweatdrop at the chaos. Had there been anything in that juice that Nora had given him? He would have to ask her.

* * *

Ozpin looked at the students in front of him, and he struggled not to chuckle a little bit. This was certainly a new situation.

"Come on, Professor," Naruto in Ruby's body said in a panic, "you have to know some way to fix this!"

The two of them had tried to figure out a solution with their teams but had been unable to find any way to fix their problem. Then Weiss had suggested going to Professor Ozpin to see if he knew anything.

Unfortunately, Ozpin had never seen anything like this before, and whatever this was most likely something that the Devourer did just before dying. However, the woman that Glynda had captured was not talking to the police, and so they couldn't get any information out of her. Despite her insistence that she was the second in command, the police believed that she was simply a delusional lower rank who was too loyal to her boss.

"I'm sorry, but I honestly I have no clue how to undo what has happened to you two," Ozpin told them, and their eyes widened in horror.

Naruto(in Ruby's body) crouched in the corner and began drawing circles on the floor with his finger. "I don't wanna be stuck in a girl's body for the rest of my life."

A gust of wind blew through the room, and Ozpin sighed as he quickly figured out who it was.

"Don't worry, my dear student," Jiraiya jumped through the window and stood in the center of the room. "I, the great Jiraiya, know of a way to return your minds back to your bodies."

He was instantly swarmed by Naruto and Ruby. "Really?! How?"

"Hold up." Jiraiya leaned in toward Naruto and stage-whispered into his ear, "Are you sure you wanna give up this prime chance so soon? Think about it, you can do anything you want while you're in that body."

Naruto's eye twitched, which looked strange on Ruby's face. "Tsunade-baachan would punch you through the wall if she knew you said that."

"Well, it's a good thing she's not here then."

Off to the side, Weiss felt her Yang senses tingling as she looked at the man in front of her… except this man was even worse than Yang. She could tell, this man was a sleaze of the highest caliber.

"Naruto, who's the pervert?"

Jiraiya stood up and pointed at Weiss. "I take offense to that! I am no simple pervert!"

"Then what are you?" Blake questioned, and she instantly regretted when she saw the grin on Jiraiya's face.

"I'm a big one."

Blake slouched as she began questioning the sanity of anyone from Naruto's homeland. Weiss consoled her by patting her on the back.

"You walked right into that one."

"I know."

Jiraiya laughed before looking back to Naruto and Ruby. "Anyway, you two, pack your bags. We're going on a trip."

Before they could ask any more questions, Jiraiya leaped back out the window. Landing on the ground with a thud, Jiraiya headed in the direction of the port to secure some spots on a cargo ship that was going to the Elemental Lands.

He began thinking about the Devourer's defeat by his students, and he would be the first to say that there was something more going on. He knew that Naruto and his teammates were powerful, but to so easily defeat someone like the Devourer… Jiraiya would figure out what was going on, but first, he had to get Naruto and Ruby back into their original bodies. He would send word ahead to Tsunade to see if the Yamanaka Clan knew anything that could undo this mess.

* * *

"Naruto, are you sure it's safe for Ruby to go to your homeland?" Yang questioned. "Suigetsu said some things that didn't exactly make it seem like a vacation resort."

Naruto turned around, unable to see thanks to the blindfold around his head. Yang was helping him change into something since she didn't want him to see her sister's naked body("Yet" she had whispered, to the confusion of Naruto).

"Well, I don't know exactly what Suigetsu told you, but there really hasn't been many major attacks between the nations after the last great war. Most of Suigetsu's experience with danger probably comes from the bloodline purge of his home country, and the fact that his country was second to none when it came to accepting assassination missions."

"'Bloodline purge'?" Yang asked. "Arms up."

Naruto did as she said and then explained, "For a while, Suigetsu's home wanted to get rid of anyone who had a bloodline because the government was scared of their power." Naruto scratched the back of his neck as he thought about how to explain what a bloodline was.

Luckily, Yang made it easier for him. "A bloodline… Is that kinda like a semblance?"

"Yeah, although the main difference is that not everyone has one, and the ability is passed down through a family. Jugo's ability, for example, is a bloodline. He's one of the few left of his clan, and he loses himself to his rage when he uses his ability too much. I suppose... that's why we became such good friends. We're pretty much the same after all."

"The same?"

"Other than my team and Jiraiya, Blake's the only other one who knows here. When I was born, I had a demon known as the Nine-tailed Fox sealed inside me." Yang's eyes widened in surprise and horror. "I'm able to tap into its power, but the more I do, the more I lose control over my mind. One day, if I get too far gone, the Nine-tails will fully take over and be released back into the world, and in the process... I'll die."

"That's horrible... How are you able to smile knowing what could possibly happen to you at any moment?"

"That's simple." Naruto smirked and pointed his thumb at himself. "I ain't gonna let some stupid fox just control my mind. If anything, I'll be the one to control him."

"You'd fit in well in our family," Yang commented. "You've got our stubbornness down pat."

Naruto was allowed to put his arms down again, and Yang took the blindfold off of him. Naruto looked down and groaned. This had to be one of those times where he just wanted to punch life in the face for being a complete jerk.

"This is humiliating," he muttered. "This must be karma for making Suigetsu wear a maid costume."

Yang snickered, but then Naruto saw her face take on a more serious expression.

"Naruto, make sure to protect Ruby." Yang's fist clenched tightly, her nails digging into her skin. "When that sicko had her, I was unable to do anything. I'm her sister, and I couldn't sav-"

Naruto lightly rapped his knuckles on her forehead. "Quit that. You guys did fine. Devourer was a huntsman with much more experience than all of you." Naruto shot her a grin. "Besides, you guys did help a lot by bringing down his Aura, -ttebayo."

Yang smiled, and silently vowed to get stronger. "You know, you and Ruby really are a lot alike."

* * *

"Shouldn't we help him?" Ruby asked Suigetsu, who was chuckling and taking sips from his bottle of water.

"No way," he replied. "I haven't seen Jugo this uncomfortable ever, and it's amazing."

Ruby sweatdropped and looked over to Jugo, who was being inspected and prodded by a strange girl who had come into Team JNKS room along with Velvet. According to the Faunus, this was the leader of her team, Coco.

Coco had brown hair, and her eyes were covered by a pair of dark sunglasses. She wore lots of various accessories and held a briefcase at her side.

She slowly circled Jugo, who was shifting from side to side. "Strong arms. Very nice jawline. Fashion sense could be a bit better…" She turned to Velvet and gave her a thumbs up. "I approve of your boy toy, Velvet. And I must say, he's got a fine a-"

"Coco!" Velvet exclaimed with a red face, leaping at her and placing a hand over her mouth. Ruby wondered what Coco had been about to say, missing the pink tint that covered Jugo's face. Beside Ruby, Suigetsu began laughing even harder.

"Oh, this is gold! Wait till Karin hears about this."

Soon a young man stepped into the doorway. He had red hair and blank white eyes, and his arms were covered in scars. Following behind him was a guy who was even taller than Jugo. He had short black hair and eyes, with a massive curved blade strapped to his back.

Velvet turned to them and begged, "Fox, Yatsuhashi, help me."

Before anyone could react, Coco grabbed Jugo by the back of his collar and began dragging him out the door.

"If Velvet's going to be seen with you at all, we need to get you a better outfit."

Fear overtook Jugo for the first time in his life, and Suigetsu cackled madly as Jugo disappeared with Coco. Velvet took off running after them, looking thoroughly embarrassed.

Fox sighed and went to make sure Jugo had a bit of male support while Coco forced him to find a new outfit. He still remembered when she had dragged him, Velvet, and Yatsuhashi off for new clothes that she deemed more stylish.

"I apologize for Coco. She can be a bit… forceful when it comes to style." Yatsuhashi said, before leaving Suigetsu and Ruby alone in the room.

Several silent seconds passed, and Ruby turned to look at Suigetsu.

"Are you sure we shouldn't go help him?"

"Ruby, if you stop bugging me about that, I will get you as many cookies as you want when you get back."

-(Inside Ruby's Mind)-

 _Two large armies made up of Rubys slowly marched toward each other. One side wore banners with Jugo's face plastered on them, while the other party had images of cookies sewn onto their clothes. Every Ruby had their Crescent Rose in its deactivated form._

 _The two armies came to a halt, and one Ruby on each side stepped forth. The two leaders approached each other, neither backing down in the slightest._

 _The head of the Cookie Corps pointed at their adversary. "Surrender now and none of you will be harmed."_

 _"No!" The general of the Do-good Division exclaimed. "We must help our friend, even if it means giving up a chance for cookies."_

 _Shouts of "Heathens!" and "Blasphemy!" came from the Cookie Corps, and the Do-good Division reached for their weapons._

 _"Fine then," The Cookie Corps leader said. "Prepare to meet your end at our hand."_

 _Both leaders walked back to their respective army, and the drums of war began to sound. Two Crescent Roses activated, and each leader pointed their weapon at the opposing side._

 _"Charge!"_

 _With the command given, both sides rushed forward. The sounds of hundreds of Crescent Roses activating filled the air. Bullets were flying across the battlefield, and several Rubys were doing the same with their semblance._

 _The Do-good Division's leader looked to one of her subordinates and gave her a specific signal. The Ruby picked up a walkie-talkie and called_ in _their support._

 _A plane flew overhead, the design of a yellow dragon wrapped around the sun painted onto it. The cargo bay door opened, and something began freefalling toward the battlefield._

 _There was a blast of wind and dust as the object impacted with the ground, and anyone nearby had to shield their face. The debris cleared, and all the Cookie Corps Rubys paled at the grin that appeared from inside the cloud._

 _"Just thought I'd… drop in."_

 _"They brought in a Yang!" A Cookie Corps Ruby screamed, and panic ensued throughout their ranks. With Yang rushing through the Cookie Corps, the Do-good Division quickly gained an advantage._

 _However, that advantage was quickly lost when Yang was suddenly kicked down. Everyone's attention was drawn to the second blond to enter the fray._

 _"As a fellow food addict, I know your pain." Naruto looked out dramatically across the field. "Cookie Corps, fear not, for you have me battling beside you."_

 _A loud cheer rose up from the Cookie Corps, their morale restored. Along with the boost to the Corps's confidence, one-third of the Do-good Division defected when they saw that Naruto was on the opposite side._

 _"You traitors!" The_ Do-good's _leader yelled, and Yang began standing back up. "Where is your honor?"_

 _The battle resumed, and the sides were almost evenly matched. Eventually, the field was filled with the unconscious and twitching bodies of Rubys from both sides. It looked like neither team had won, but one of the piles began shuffling. Suddenly, out from the top of the pile of Rubys, the last conscious Ruby sprung up._

 _"VICTORY!" She shouted and held up a Cookie Corps flag high into the air._

-(Back in Reality)-

"Deal," Ruby said and shook Suigetsu's hand. He smirked, glad that the little passing comment he had heard Yang mention once had come in handy.

Ruby looked at the time and grabbed the bag full of Naruto's clothes off of the bed. She turned to Suigetsu.

"Guess I'll see you when we get back."

"Yeah," Suigetsu replied, leaping on his bed and looking through a book. "Make sure Naruto doesn't do anything too stupid without Jugo and Karin looking out for him. And if he does, at least get some pictures. I hate missing anything that humiliates him."

Ruby sighed and walked out the door. Leaving Suigetsu to do who knows what.

* * *

Reed lifted up his hand and watched the small flame hover over his fingertips. He had his tattoos back and in working order, however, his fight with Uzumaki had shown him just how weak he had gotten.

Glancing over his shoulder, he saw Roman going over some preparations for something that was planned to happen in a couple weeks.

"Roman, where does Cinder need me for her plan?"

"You heading off to that regeneration pool thing?" Roman questioned, before shaking his head. "Mountain Glenn. We'll meet up back there."

Reed nodded in thanks and grabbed the few things he had packed for his trip. Even though he had the ability to temporarily copy any person's or Grimm's abilities, there was one drawback to such a power. Every time he used the ability, he got weaker and weaker until he completed the same ceremony he had used to gain that gift in the first place. It had been decades since the last time he had done so, and he had been too cocky when it came to his fight with Uzumaki.

Reed needed to make sure that Cinder's plan went through flawlessly, which meant that he needed to be at full power. If they failed… Then the reason for his existence would be meaningless. He had vowed to protect them no matter what, and he had done things that most others would consider horrible to do so. But that didn't faze him... because he was a demon inhabiting the mind of a man who had sold his soul for strength. And if he broke that vow, then he would cease to exist. Not even the mortal's semblance would be able to save him.

Uzumaki would definitely be a hindrance if he got in the way, but Cinder insured that she had that taken care of.

* * *

Ruby leaned out over the railing and waved goodbye to her teammates and friends, and Naruto stood behind her. As their cargo ship began pulling further out to sea, she spun around to face Naruto and Jiraiya.

"So what's your plan to get us back into our right bodies?" Ruby asked, looking up at the man.

"Back in our home, there's a clan who prides themselves on their knowledge of secret jutsus which involve the mind. I figure that they'll be our best bet for getting you two back to normal." Jiraiya prodded Ruby, who tried backing away. "It's too weird for me seeing Naruto's body standing and walking in such a feminine way. It's unnatural."

"You can say that again, Ero-sennin." Naruto nodded in agreement. The only time he would ever behave like a girl was when he used his sexy jutsu.

Jiraiya closed the notebook in his hand. "We have a few days until we reach our destination, so feel free to do whatever you want as long as it doesn't kill anyone or impede our progress." He turned around as tears comically poured down his face. "I'm gonna go to my cabin and mourn the lack of girls in swimsuits."

Naruto and Ruby sweatdropped, and they watched him disappear below decks. Ruby faced Naruto with a confused expression.

"He helped teach you?"

"I know. Doesn't seem that great, does he?" Naruto placed his hands behind his head. "But I quickly learned why he was considered to be one of my village's strongest ninja. When he gets serious, I doubt I'd be able to beat him even with the help of Suigetsu, Karin, and Jugo."

Ruby was silent for several moments. "The people from your home really are something else. We huntsmen and huntresses pride ourselves in our abilities, but we can't hold a candle to you guys."

"Trust me, Ruby, not all ninjas are as ridiculously powerful as you think. Those like Jiraiya, myself, and my team make up a small fraction of the people. And if you put your mind to it, I bet you could even catch up to me in strength."

Ruby looked at Naruto, and she grinned. As soon as she got back into her body, she would work on getting stronger. She wanted to be on equal footing with Naruto, and she wanted to be able to fight her battles herself. Her first order of business would be learning to fight without Crescent Rose, which was probably her greatest weakness at the moment.

Ruby looked out toward the horizon, taking in the beautiful sights. The sun was setting over the gently rolling waves, painting the sky and ocean in lovely shades of red, orange, and pink. Overhead, the moon was shining, the first stars blinking into view near it.

A loud yawn escaped her mouth, and Ruby lazily stretched her arms. She decided that she would get some rest as well, and went below deck to her cabin after bidding goodnight to Naruto.

She lied down in the small bed, and the gentle rocking of the ship soon lulled her to sleep.

Her eyes soon snapped open, but she wasn't in her cabin any longer. She was standing in what looked like a giant a sewer, and she was wading in ankle deep water. Along with the change in surroundings, she was also in her natural body.

In front of her was a large gate, a large piece of paper placed on the area in the middle, with a strange symbol written on the paper.

Ruby slowly approached the metal bars, and she saw a large red eye appear in the darkness beyond. Whatever the eye belonged to got closer to the bars, and Ruby soon found herself staring up at a gigantic fox with nine long tails sweeping behind it. The creature gave her a malevolent grin.

"So we meet at last, human."

* * *

 **So just a little fun with a mind switch between Ruby and Naruto, and the upcoming chapter will be full of fun antics that revolve around that. Along with a bit of character development with Suigetsu, who is probably one of my favorite characters to write just because of how grating he is to those around him. Soon, we will get some insight into Jugo.**

 **Also... Sorry for the cliffhanger, but it was the best place to cut off. Besides, suspense building is a major part of writing! Anything else... Oh yeah, and I've given you guys a bit of history on Reed/Devourer. Because although his arc is over, it doesn't mean I'm done with him.**


	7. This is a Curse, isn't it?

**I'm a little late with this one, but this was a hard one to make it not seem like useless filler. Anyway, enjoy!**

* * *

 _ **Chapter 7:**_

 _ **This is a Curse for Inventing the Oiroke no Jutsu, isn't it?**_

Ruby looked up at the towering figure in front of her. Its crimson eyes were locked squarely on her. Her mouth felt dry. What was this thing? And where was this place? Dozens of questions raced through Ruby's mind, and she couldn't think of an answer for any of them.

Suddenly the sound of splashing water echoed through the air. It got closer and closer, and Ruby could make out that it sounded like someone wading through the water. Listening carefully, she could tell that the pattern also suggested that it was a person or thing walking on two legs.

A figure walked past Ruby, and she was confused by how Naruto could be here. He turned to her, and the sight she was met with chilled her to the bone.

This Naruto looked almost entirely the same as the Naruto she knew, but he wasn't the same. This Naruto's eyes had pitch-black sclera, and his eyes were blood red. He had an air of superiority, and Ruby could see the overwhelming hatred for everything hidden deep within his eyes.

"This is inside Naruto's mind, inside my mind." He pointed over his shoulder at the giant fox. "And that is the Nine-tailed Fox, a creature trapped inside me. I must say, it's interesting having someone new in here."

"You're not Naruto," Ruby said, but then she was suddenly lifted up into the air. The darker Naruto was holding her throat tightly, crushing her windpipe. She clawed at the grip. Could she die in this place? And if she did, what would happen?

"Shut up!" He yelled, eyes full of rage. "I'm the real Naruto! But the fake that you know is in my way."

Ruby managed to kick this Naruto in the chin, forcing him to let her go. She quickly backpedaled away, trying to figure out what to do.

 _'This should be interesting,'_ the Nine-tails thought, and he crossed his front limbs together lazily.

Ruby held her ground, trying to spot any weaknesses that she could aim for. Before she could realize what was happening, she lost all the breath in her lungs as this Naruto drove his fist into her abdomen.

Before he could pull back, Ruby reacted quickly and wrapped herself around his arm, flipping him into the water. She fell in as well but was quick to get back up.

Steadying herself, Ruby stared directly into the Dark Naruto's eyes. As silver met red, she realized something and dropped her fighting stance. Arms hanging loosely at her sides, she took a deep breath to calm herself down. The Nine-tails noticed and shifted positions slightly.

"Finally given up?" Dark Naruto sprinted forward and connected his fist with her cheek. "That makes it easier on me."

Instead of Ruby falling, she dug her heels into the ground as best as she could to stay standing. She turned to her opponent and smiled gently.

Dark Naruto took one look at her expression and rage filled his veins. As he continued his onslaught, Ruby didn't back down or lose her smile in the slightest. If anything, her smile grew more caring with each punch.

"Stop looking at me like that!" Dark Naruto paused to take a breather. "I won't let you fool me!"

"It's okay," Ruby replied softly, "I'm not going to fight you anymore. I can see now that you're right. You are Naruto, just as Naruto is you."

"Quit lying! I know you're just trying to get me to drop my guard, just like everyone else. But I ain't falling for it. I know that everyone will just end up abandoning us!"

"I won't. I'll always be there for Naruto- for you- because he's my friend." Ruby reached out towards Dark Naruto. He looked at for a second before slapping it away.

"Save your words. I won't disappear just because you're a good liar."

Ruby watched Dark Naruto vanish into the darkness and wanted to run after him.

"Don't waste your breath," the Nine-tails spoke up, "you'll never be able to break through to him."

Ruby sighed in frustration. "Dang it, and I really wanted to help too. Oh well, maybe I can try again later."

The Nine-tails looked down at the girl's frustrated and disappointed face, and he could see the innocence in them. Yet, he could also tell that she wasn't blind to the ways of the world. This girl just truly believed that no one person was beyond saving. For a brief moment, the Nine-tails saw a flash of the old sage in the girl's place but quickly shook his head.

Ruby glanced down the pitch black tunnel that Dark Naruto had retreated into, before she turned to look back at the Nine-tails. She could see that the giant fox seemed to resemble Naruto when he had come in to beat the Devourer the other day. The only difference was that the Nine-tails had none of the human-like features of Naruto.

"So... is your name actually Nine-tails, or is that more of a title?" Ruby cursed her inability to think of ways to start a conversation in a less awkward way.

The Nine-tails stood up, his massive tails swinging powerfully behind him.

"Stupid fleshbag, you think I just give out my name to everyone." A dark chuckle escaped his mouth. "You need only to know that I am the great and powerful Nine-tails, and if it weren't for these accursed bars, I would eat you in an instant. That's the kind of demon I am."

"Nope!" Ruby shook her head rapidly, making the Nine-tails sweatdrop. "You can't be a demon. For one, you don't have horns."

"...What exactly do you think demons look like?"

"Second, you're way too fuzzy and cute to be a demon."

The Nine-tails felt the throbbing vein in his forehead and shifted closer towards the bars.

"Cute?!" He roared, the air leaving his lungs blowing past Ruby like a violent hurricane. "I am in no way cute! I'm the most terrifying being on this entire stinkin' planet! The minute I'm free from this prison, I will show you just how demonic I can be."

"If you weren't so big, I'd definitely keep you as a pet. You're almost as adorable as my dog Zwei."

"I will enjoy your screams, girl."

* * *

Jaune coughed awkwardly as his three teammates stared at him in disbelief. He couldn't blame them. He had just decided to tell them about how the only reason he got into Beacon was because he had faked his transcripts. Needless to say, his teammates had been surprised by the revelation.

Jaune knew that they could tell Ozpin about this, but he didn't care. Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora were his teammates, and he felt that he had to be completely honest with them. If hanging around Naruto had taught him anything, it was that a team could only be at their best when they could all fully trust each other. He felt that either this would help further that trust, or it would show him that his hope of becoming a Huntsman had been nothing more than a stupid pipe dream.

"Well isn't that interesting?"

Team JNPR's attention was drawn to the open door and a smirking Cardin leaning against the doorway. A horrified look took over Jaune's face as he realized that the person who hated him the most at Beacon had just heard everything about how he had lied his way in. This was not good, to put it lightly.

"I just happened to be passing by when I heard Jauney-boy here say something interesting."

"'Happened to be passing by' my foot," Jaune mumbled under his breath.

"What do you want, Cardin?" Ren asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. He didn't know what Cardin was up to, but he knew that it couldn't possibly be anything good. Cardin was a bully who particularly seemed to hate Jaune, and even Ruby to a lesser extent. And no one knew why. Cardin just appeared to be a jerk for no reason.

"Oh, nothing much," the cocky smirk that overtook Cardin's features made Jaune freeze up, "just Jaune to do whatever I say unless he wants me to tell Professor Ozpin his little secret."

Jaune's eyes widened, and he began panicking. If Profesor Ozpin knew about how he had cheated to get into Beacon, he would be kicked out for sure. Furthermore, he had no clue what would happen to Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora if he was expelled. They could be suspended until a new teammate could be found for them, at best.

Jaune realized that the only way to make sure nothing bad happened to his teammates was to agree to Cardin's terms. He didn't know if they even still trusted him after learning his secret, but as team leader, he couldn't let them get punished for his mistake.

"If you think Jaune would be your personal servant, then your even more stupid than you look," Nora said, standing beside her leader. Jaune looked over to her and was met with a reassuring grin.

"Go tell Professor Ozpin whatever you want, but none of us will cave in to a bully like you." Pyrrha placed a comforting hand on Jaune's shoulder, staring at Cardin with a hard stare that seemed foreign on her ordinarily smiling face.

"Jaune's our leader, and no matter what he did to get into Beacon will change that fact." Ren stood next to Nora with a calm expression.

"You guys…"Jaune shared a look with each of his friends and felt a surge gratitude rush through his system. He met Cardin's gaze resolutely. "Cardin, I may be the weakest member of my team, but I'm trying to get stronger. So you can go to Professor Ozpin, and you can get me expelled, but I'm not going to let a jerk like you bully me anymore."

Cardin frowned before turning around in frustration. "Fine! A cheater like you has no place being in Beacon among those of us who actually worked hard to get here."

Nora laughed loudly as Cardin left, celebrating their victory. "We sure showed him. Right, Jaune? Jaune?"

Jaune was sitting on his bed, holding his head in his hands. "Oh, what I did just do. I can't believe I said that to him. He's going to murder me in our next spar. Wait, I'll be getting expelled before then!"

Pyrrha, Ren, and Nora sweatdropped. 'Same old Jaune.'

The three were still worried, though. They fully believed that Cardin would carry through with his threats, which meant that Jaune would probably be expelled.

* * *

"I already knew," Ozpin told the young student in front of him, setting his mug down onto his desk. Cardin tensed up.

"If you knew, then why haven't you kicked Jaune out yet? He cheated to get into this school, the punishment for which is expulsion."

"I know that, but I am not going to expel Mr. Arc for that. He-"

"Why?!" Cardin slammed his hands down onto the desk, trembling heavily. "Is it because he's an Arc? Just because his ancestors were famous doesn't mean he should get special treatment! That Ruby girl too, she gets skipped ahead two years just because she's the kid of some great huntsmen. You even let in a bunch of outsiders who didn't take the entrance exams at all!"

"Mr. Winchester, that is enough. I let all of them in for a reason. Reasons which I don't need to disclose to you. But I can assure you that they all belong here at Beacon just as much as anyone else." Ozpin's stern look softened, seeing his troubled student. "I know how hard it must be for you because of your family, but you also earned your place here. Don't ruin it because of some petty grudge."

Cardin's hand trembled as he clutched it tightly into a managed to get out a semi-polite goodbye before leaving the headmaster's office.

Once outside, he slammed a fist into the wall and swore. Even Professor Ozpin was on their side -was spoiling them- for no reason. A bunch of idiots who hadn't had to work hard at all to get into Beacon while everyone else actually deserved to be here. They got in for free, while he had spent years studying, making sure he got good enough grades and scraping together enough money to get into this school. It wasn't fair.

He chuckled scornfully. "Guess life just doesn't care about fairness or those who work hard." He began heading back to his dorm. "There's no one else that I can trust but myself."

* * *

Jugo sighed as he was forced to try on another shirt as Coco sped through the store, carefully picking clothes that she deemed would look the best on Jugo. Meanwhile, the three other members of Team CFVY had taken to sitting on the ground and entertaining themselves with their Scrolls.

"Coco," Fox spoke up as he glanced at the time, "it's getting late. I think we should start heading back if we don't want to sleep through tomorrow."

Coco paused in her search, tapping a finger against her chin as she began to think. Her teammate had a point. Tomorrow would be Saturday, and she didn't want to waste her weekend by sleeping. She walked to the dressing room door and rapped her knuckles against the door.

"Okay, Jugo, finish up with what you have in there and we'll leave."

Jugo sighed in relief, quickly putting his regular clothes back on. After doing that, he helped carry the clothes that Coco had picked out up to the counter so that they could pay. Since these clothes were for him, he paid for them himself.

Grabbing the handles of the bags, he began heading back to Beacon with Team CFVY.

"It's a good thing you're not as tall as Yatsuhashi," Coco told Jugo, glaring playfully at her giant teammate. "It was a nightmare finding things for him."

Yatsuhashi ignored his leader and instead shifted the subject. "Have you heard what happened to that woman that Professor Goodwitch captured when those people attacked at Forever Fall?"

Jugo shook his head. "I know that she hasn't been cooperating with the police. What happened?

"Apparently some people who said they were family visited her, and she went insane. She began screaming out a bunch of astrology and zodiac stuff in her cell and lost her mind," Fox responded.

Jugo wondered what was up with that. There was no way that it could simply be a coincidence that she went insane after getting a visit. He wondered if Jiraiya could find out anything about it with his connections.

Jugo made a plan to start looking into things himself. He would have plenty of time over the next few days. He continued to think as they began walking towards the dormitories of Beacon.

"Good night, Jugo," Velvet said as Jugo parted from Team CFVY to head towards his team's room.

When he walked through the door, Karin looked up from her Icha-Icha. She said a quick greeting before burying her nose back into the book. Jugo couldn't believe how quickly she had gotten into the series; it was almost… terrifying. She seemed to enjoy it even more than Suigetsu, and that was the real scary thing.

Now that Jugo thought about it, he didn't see Suigetsu in the room. However, he did see a note laying on the table and picked it up.

"Going out for the night. Be back by morning," Jugo read noiselessly. He turned to Karin.

"Did Suigetsu tell you where he was going?"

"Maybe he got a girlfriend."

The image of Suigetsu trying to flirt with a girl popped into their minds. They pictured him going all maniacal and weapon crazy mid-conversation.

"Impossible," they both stated in sync. While Suigetsu was their friend, they believed that Naruto was more likely to get a girl than him. And that was saying something. Naruto was perhaps the densest idiot they had ever met, and they doubted nothing short of a confession straight to his face or a kiss would clue him in.

Jugo grabbed his pajamas and began heading to the bathroom to change. On the way, he passed by Ren, who appeared to have just gotten out of the shower. They shared a silent nod of greetings, and Jugo headed into the restroom.

As he began changing, he couldn't help but wonder what his life would have been like had he never met Naruto. Undoubtedly he would have probably ended up following Sasuke as he had originally planned. But then Naruto came along, and Jugo had been reminded of the first time he met Kimimaro. Jugo had known then that it was Naruto who had inherited the will of his deceased friend, not Sasuke as he had once thought.

Jugo pulled down his shirt, and he thought about how much control he had gained over his monstrous side since he had started traveling with Naruto.

As he walked out of the bathroom and towards his room, he passed by the window. Outside, he saw someone standing out in the courtyard. The person didn't seem familiar, and as far as Jugo could tell, he or she looked too old to be a student. The person looked up and met his eyes. Jugo saw a flicker of red in the individual's eyes, and then the stranger began walking away.

 _'That was strange.'_ Jugo stood there for a few more moments, gazing at the empty courtyard, before rubbing his eyes as his sleepiness began to catch up with him. He was going to sleep well tonight.

* * *

"I've almost got it," Ruby said as she tried to walk up the wall in front of her once again.

"So close!" Naruto exclaimed as he attempted to use Ruby's semblance.

Jiraiya sighed as he watched the two. Ever since the sun had risen hours ago and they had woke up, the two of them had been trying to use each other's abilities. Needless to say, they weren't having much success.

Suddenly, Ruby took a step up the wall, and she managed to shakily stand sideways on the wall. Jiraiya blinked in surprise, unable to believe how quickly she had managed to grasp onto wall-walking, even if she did look like she was about to collapse any second now.

Then a flurry of red leaves zoomed past Jiraiya, and the sage watched as Naruto lost control and rammed into Ruby. She was knocked off the wall, and both of them fell overboard in a blur of red, black, orange, and yellow.

Several of the sailors rushed to the side as they began looking for where the two had fallen. Jiraiya groaned into his hand. These two were going to be a major pain in the neck until they were back into their natural bodies. That was assuming they didn't get themselves killed before then, of course.

"Don't worry," Jiraiya told the sailors as he began scaling down the side of the ship, "I'll get them."

A few moments later, a soaking wet Naruto and Ruby were sprawled out on the deck of the ship. A sailor brought each of them a large blanket to wrap themselves in so they could warm up.

Naruto curled up tightly in his and began shivering. "This suc-achoo!" He rubbed at his stuffy nose. "Everything feels weird. Seriously, Ruby, how do you wear panties all the time? And why do girl's chests have to be so heavy? If only I had switched bodies with Weiss, then I wouldn't have that problem."

"You're just not used to them," Ruby sighed as she snuggled into her blanket. "Ah... So warm."

Naruto groaned as he continued to shiver. "This has to be some sort of punishment for inventing the Oiroke no Jutsu." He looked to the sky and shook his fist. "I won't apologize for it! It's a very useful jutsu!"

Jiraiya laughed at his student, but then he saw the sailors beginning to take up lookout positions on the edge of the ship. Jiraiya joined them and peered down into the depths of the water below, and was met with the same magnificent sight that he had seen when they had first come to Remnant two years ago.

"Whoa…" Ruby whispered as she came over to see what the commotion was about.

Swimming below the boat were dozens of huge Grimm that looked like a dolphin and shark had had a baby together. Spikes lined their backs, and their fins were very jagged. They were moving slowly and seemed to pay no attention to the boat.

"Amazing, isn't it." One of the sailors walked over, a large faunus whose appearance suggested he was part shark due to the sharp teeth, gills, and fins on his back and elbows. "Those are Leviathans. They're the reason why passenger ships don't make it out this way, despite the fact that they tend to ignore our boats."

"But why? Shouldn't they just attack anything in sight like most Grimm?" Ruby questioned, staring down at the fish-like Grimm.

"No one knows for sure, but maybe they've simply grown smart enough to realize that they are more likely to survive by leaving us alone."

Ruby met the gaze of one of the creatures and watched as it slowly swam away. To think that there were Grimm like this, it was incredible to her.

"They look like they're almost as big as the Nine-tails."

Both Naruto and Jiraiya froze as those words left Ruby's mouth. Jiraiya turned to her with a horrified gaze, his mouth hanging open. Naruto was in a similar state, just a little less shocked and more worried.

"You've met the Nine-tails?" Both of them asked at the same time, and Ruby nodded her head in confirmation.

"Yeah, I ended up in Naruto's mind last night and met him there. At first, he was all 'I'm going to kill you, fleshbag!' But after a few scratches behind the ear, he's now 'I think I'll make you into my slave when I escape, instead of killing you.' He has-"

"Ruby," Jiraiya interjected harshly, making her jump in shock, "you shouldn't be speaking to it at all. That thing will stop at nothing to get out, and if it does it won't care about anyone as it begins its rampage."

"But he doesn't seem that bad. Sure he's grumpy and seems to hate a lot of things, but I think all he needs is a friend."

"Ruby," Naruto said, "just be careful. Don't get yourself hurt trying to make a friend out of the Nine-tails."

Ruby studied at Naruto, and she could tell that he appeared to be in deep thought. She wondered if everything was okay, or if something she had said had struck a nerve with him. She turned to look at Jiraiya, who wouldn't stop giving her that stern stare.

Finally, he gave in. "Fine, we'll be reaching port tomorrow morning. Until then, just don't touch the seal on the Nine-tails's cage."

Ruby gave him a thumbs up. She could do that. The three of them left the side of the ship and went to grab something to eat for lunch. Then afterward, it would be back to trying to stick onto walls. The advice that the Nine-tails had given her last time had seemed to work, so hopefully she'd be able to get it this time.

* * *

Meanwhile, a pair of figures were walking in the direction of Sunagakure no Sato, the Village Hidden in the Sand. Both wore black coats with red clouds covering them. One of them was hunched over, while the other stood straight up.

"-don't know anything, Sasori." The one standing straight said to his companion as he trudged through the desert sands. "True art is something that is there one instant and then gone the next, faded into the wind."

"Are all shinobi of Iwagakure as foolish as you, Deidara?" Sasori asked, getting an angered scowl from his blonde haired associate. "Art is something that lasts forever, and that will stand the test of time for eternity. Your silly little explosions are a mockery of true art."

Deidara flung his arms up in the air. "You're impossible! Why Leader ever paired me with you is beyond me."

"Would you rather be in Zetsu's place and watch over Tobi?"

Deidara visibly shivered, even in the sweltering heat of the desert. "No thanks. I'd rather lose an arm before having to work with that little pest."

"The one thing we can agree on." Sasori looked behind at Deidara. "Hurry up, or we'll be late, and you know how I feel about that."

"Yeah, sure." Deidara held a hand up, and the mouth that was in the center of his palm gave him a maniacal grin with its tongue hanging out. "I just can't wait to capture the Ichibi container using my special art."

Once again, the two resumed their argument about what true art was as they grew ever closer to their destination.

* * *

 **Just real quick, RUBY IS NOT GOING TO GET SAGE POWERS! The Nine-tails was simply comparing how similar their personalities were. Just wanted to get that out of the way. Okay, now that I've got that clear, I'm good.**

 **Also, this marks the start of a special character arc with Cardin, who I felt that the RWBY team just simply created as a bully for Jaune. They never explain why he hates Jaune or anything of the sort, so I aim to create my own rendition of him.**


	8. Naruto's Back in Town!

**_Chapter 8:_**

 ** _Naruto's Back in Town!_**

Suigetsu opened his eyes, blearily looking at the sunlight cascading through the window. He tumbled out of bed and just lied on the ground for a few more moments, staring at the ceiling. Weekends were going to be difficult for him from now on.

"So, you're finally up."

Suigetsu craned his head to see Karin working on some seals. He sat up and stretched his arms out while staring at his partner in disbelief.

"You could be doing anything you want today, and you chose to sit in here and make seals?"

"Suigetsu, shut up." Karin threw the brush she was using at Suigetsu, who calmly caught it between his fingers. However, he began sputtering due to some of the ink getting in his mouth. "So where did you run off to last night?"

Suigetsu finally got the ink out of his mouth, before he stood up with a confident smirk and pointed at himself with his thumb. "This guy got a job."

Silence ensued for exactly three seconds before Karin began laughing, She fell out of her seat and was clutching her stomach. Whenever she gained a few seconds, she would gasp for breath before continuing to laugh.

"What's so funny?!" Suigetsu yelled, causing Karin to laugh even harder.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, but you don't have to come up with such an obvious lie."

Suigetsu glared dryly at her. "I really hate you, Karin."

She stuck her tongue out at him, and Suigetsu launched himself at her. Limbs and insults flew as the two began their first fight of the day. Karin managed to get on top of Suigetsu and smirked victoriously.

Suigetsu thought quickly and liquefied his body, slipping from Karin's grasp. Now on top of her, he acted fast and pinned her to the ground.

"Hah, whatcha you gonna do now?"

"Hey, Karin, I was wondering if I could borrow-" The two turned their sight on Yang, who was standing in the now opened door. She looked at the two of them before backing out slowly with a sheepish smile.

"Sorry about that. I'll just leave you two alone."

It took a second for that to process through Karin and Suigetsu's head before dread filled their veins. They took off running after Yang in an attempt to explain the situation.

"Yang! Come back!" Karin shouted. There was no way in heck that she'd ever do anything like that with Suigetsu.

* * *

Ruby admired the beautiful forest around her, walking several steps ahead of Naruto and Jiraiya on the dirt path. The trees towered over her and cast thick shadows onto the ground. The sounds of birds and insects filled the air, and there was no sign of any Grimm whatsoever.

It was strange how peaceful it was. Back in Vale, they'd have to be careful about Grimm. Here was an entirely different story, and it was a nice change of pace.

She spun around to face the others. "Come on, you two! You said we were almost there, and I want to get back in my body!"

Naruto chuckled at his friend, before turning to Jiraiya. "Hey, Ero-sennin, do you think that she was right?"

"About what?"

"You know, the Nine-tails. What if-"

"Naruto, that's a dangerous thought. The Nine-tails is nothing more than a malevolent being who would do anything to free himself from you. You can't ignore the fact that he attacked the Leaf on the day you were born and killed hundreds of people."

Naruto remained silent. He wanted to agree with that, but he just couldn't right now. He wondered if there was another part of the story, a reason that the Nine-tails had attacked that no one really knew about.

Great… Now he felt like he had become just like the villagers, hating and ignoring someone because of what he had been told. How could he hope to get rid of the hatred of this world while he himself hated the Nine-tails?

Several minutes later, the massive walls surrounding Konohagakure loomed overhead, and Ruby gasped in astonishment. Naruto grinned too as the three of them passed through the gate. Right from the start, he could already see one major thing that had changed in his absence.

"Looks like they got Tsunade-baachan's face onto the mountain." Naruto looked up at the large monument with a grin. "Just you wait. One day, it'll be my face up there."

Naruto stumbled when he felt Jiraiya pat him on the shoulder. "First things first, we need to go see Tsunade."

Naruto nodded, and the three of them began walking towards the large building near the Hokage Monument. As they walked past shops and restaurants, Naruto could already feel the gaze of the villagers. Some of them were whispering to each other, and they would look away whenever Naruto tried to make eye contact. It was just like always.

"Naruto? Is that you?"

Naruto pivoted on his feet at the sound of his teammate's voice. He ran towards her with a large grin.

"Sakura!" Sliding to a standstill, he began talking rapidly in excitement, not noticing the pink-haired girl looking slightly weirded out, as if some stranger had just run up to her... Oh, wait, he wasn't in his own body, and he was just a stranger to Sakura at the moment... Crud.

Jiraiya and Ruby came over, and Jiraiya explained the situation to Sakura. She nodded her head, and Naruto helped translate introductions between her and Ruby.

"Man, it's so great to see you again," Naruto said, and Sakura smiled. "You haven't changed a bit."

A vein popped out on Sakura's temple while Jiraiya facepalmed. He grabbed Naruto by the back of the hood and began dragging him back towards the Hokage Tower. Sakura followed close behind, muttering under her breath. Naruto really hadn't changed that much from the dense idiot who had left Konoha 3 years prior.

"Naruto, I've got to teach you a thing or two about girls before you get yourself killed." Jiraiya rubbed his forehead, sighing at his student's tendency to anger girls without meaning to.

"What?" Naruto questioned. "I don't think Karin or Tsunade-baachan would be thrilled with what you'd teach me."

Naruto was rewarded with a quick slap to the back of his head. "That's not what I meant!"

"Please don't damage my body," Ruby said to Jiraiya, who quickly apologized.

The four of them soon reached the large tower and were greeted by the receptionist inside. Naruto walked right behind Jiraiya, while Ruby admired the building and its design. As they passed the pictures of the past Hokages, Ruby looked at each one as they passed.

So these were the past leaders of this village? They all looked so different, yet she could clearly tell that they had all been kind people. Well, except maybe for that white haired one. He looked sterner than any of the other three. The strangest one though was the person in the fourth picture, who looked remarkably similar to Naruto.

Ruby looked below the frame to see the name of the person. A memory flashed through her head at the foreign name, and she heard the Nine-tails growl something out, "Minato Namikaze."

Ruby glanced up at the picture, figuring that Minato must have been this man's name. She stared at it inquisitively, before shrugging her shoulders. They may have looked similar, but they had different surnames. She couldn't help but wonder how confusing it could be for people sometimes, and whether they ever accidentally called Naruto by this person's name or something.

With a chuckle, Ruby quickly ran to catch back up with the other three.

* * *

Jugo sat down patiently as he waited for the guards to bring the woman out. With aura-binding handcuffs around her wrists, she sat down across from Jugo. It was times like this that Jugo was glad he had a connection with the famous —or infamous, depending on who you asked— Toad Sage, Jiraiya.

Rosaria glared at him, but Jugo was also able to detect the tiniest traces of fear in her eyes.

"You're one of Uzumaki's teammates." The woman tried to fold her arms, but the cuffs prevented her from doing so. "What do you want?"

Jugo ignored her rude attitude, folding his hands in his lap. "I was hoping you could tell me something about the people who visited you the other day."

Her entire body tensed and began shaking slightly. Her pupils dilated, and she dug her nails into the palms of her hands. Jiraiya was surprised by her reaction

"They were no one," she finally said, avoiding eye contact. "Why do you care?"

"You're scared." Jugo stood up to stretch his legs, also knowing it tended to put others off guard. Jiraiya may have had some… questionable tendencies, but Jugo had picked up on some of his interrogation tactics. Her behavior made him wonder if she had been threatened.

Rosaria didn't answer, and Jugo crossed his arms in front of him. He didn't want to resort to more forceful tactics, but he needed to get this information. Someone who could frighten a person like this woman had to be powerful. And Jugo had to figure out whether they were any danger to his comrades.

"If you just tell us whatever you know, Professor Ozpin can get you under protection."

"You can't fight against the Zodiac! Even Devourer is afraid of them!" She quickly realized her slip of her tongue and ducked her head, as if she was afraid that she was going to drop dead any second.

However, Jugo was more focused on an interesting choice in her grammar. "'Is afraid'?"

He heard her mutter a curse under her breath. He had come for information on this "Zodiac" group, but it would seem like there was something else that he could glean from her. He repeated his offer, asking her to tell him anything she knew about the Zodiac and Devourer.

The look in her eyes indicated that she was having a mental struggle. Jugo felt sympathy for her, because he could see himself in Rosaria. She was loyal to Devourer, to the level that he was to Kimimaro and Naruto. He hated having to ask her to break that bond, but there was no other choice if this group she was so afraid of was really that powerful.

"I'm sorry," Jugo told her. "I know that this can't be an easy choice for you to make."

Rosaria leaned back into her seat, cradling her head in her hands. "I had a hard life until I met Devourer. Not only was I a Faunus, but I was an insect Faunus. If you think how most people treat other faunus is bad, then you don't even want to imagine what it's like for those like me. I grew up with no parents thanks to the Grimm, and I was constantly told that I was inferior… And I believed that. But then he came along and gave me purpose, gave me something to live and fight for. How can I just betray all that he's done for me?"

Jugo remained silent, not trusting himself to speak, and the two of them stared at each other for several moments. After a period of brief silence, Rosaria slouched back into her seat. She didn't know why, but she felt some weird sort of connection to this kid. She felt at ease around him. He had this… natural vibe to him.

"Fine," she gave in. "Take me to Ozpin, and I'll tell you what you want to know... if you're willing to do me a favor or two."

* * *

Tsunade rubbed her forehead, pushing platinum blonde bangs out of her way, as Jiraiya and Naruto explained the situation to her. These two idiots were going to be the death of her.

"Naruto, you've been back hardly five minutes, and I already feel like I need a drink." She threw a glance over at Shizune.

"Not while you're on duty, Lady Tsunade," her assistant replied sheepishly.

Tsunade mumbled a curse under her breath, before taking her time realize just how much Naruto had grown from the short, loudmouthed kid that she had last seen. How the time had flown.

Yet if one thing hadn't changed, it was that Naruto still managed to find himself getting into some ridiculous situations.

Meanwhile, Sakura was using her limited knowledge of the language she had picked up under Tsunade's tutelage to try to talk with Ruby. Naruto cut in every so often to help translate some things that either Sakura or Ruby couldn't understand.

"So you're fifteen?" Sakura questioned, getting a nod of confirmation from Naruto's new friend. Sakura took a moment to process that and turned to look at where Naruto was bugging Tsunade about where the Yamanaka she had called was. Then she looked down at herself.

 _'How?! And she's younger than me!'_

* * *

Meanwhile, across the sea, a certain snow-themed heiress stopped what she was doing. She felt like someone, somewhere in the world was going through something similar to what she had gone through at one point. She also felt inexplicably angry at Ruby for some reason, even though she wasn't even in Vale.

"Something wrong, Weiss?" Yang questioned, sitting next to Blake while the latter read "The Man with Two Souls."

"Nothing…" Weiss looked out the window. _'Stay strong, whoever you are.'_

* * *

Back in Konoha, Naruto let out a loud cheer as the office door opened and Ino's dad walked in. Tsunade let out a sigh of relief as Naruto shifted his attention to pestering the one who was going to be switching their minds back. He may have grown up in some areas, but at heart, Naruto was still that little kid bouncing around all over the place and driving people insane.

"Lady Tsunade," the blond haired man greeted, keeping a wary eye on Naruto. He had been on the receiving end of more than a few of the Uzumaki's pranks, and he had learned to be careful around the young Jinchuuriki.

"Inoichi, thank you for coming in." Tsunade grabbed Ruby and Naruto pushing them in front of Inoichi. "We were hoping that you'd be able to something about these two."

Tsunade watched the head of the Yamanaka clan walk up to the two children and study them briefly.

"You said their minds were swapped, right?" He looked back at Tsunade. "I'm not exactly sure how long it could take, but I should be able to get them back."

"Yeah!" Naruto exclaimed, pumping a fist into the air. Finally, he would be back in his nice, testosterone-filled body.

Tsunade watched Inoichi sit the two of them down and place his hands on their heads. All three sets of eyes closed as the master of mind jutsus began his work.

Tsunade leaned back in her seat and looked over to Jiraiya. "So, tell me how the past three years have been for the two of you."

"Naruto's grown a lot over the course of our training, and I've begun training him in wind jutsu. I'm thinking of letting him talk to Asuma before we leave."

Tsunade folded her hands under her chin. "So you're not staying?"

Jiraiya shook his head as he leaned against the window. "As much as Naruto wants to go search for Sasuke, we can't let the Akatsuki get their hands on him. So we'll be heading back overseas once we're done here. The farther away Naruto is from this place, the better."

Tsunade closed her eyes. She hated to admit it, but Jiraiya was right. Naruto couldn't be allowed to fall into the Akatsuki's clutches, even if it meant that Sasuke became Orochimaru's new body. As dangerous as Orochimaru was, the Akatsuki were the greater threat at the moment, and Sasuke had willingly left the village anyway.

"Although," Jiraiya spoke up with a gleam in his eye, "we also have an edge against Orochimaru now. Three, actually."

Now she was curious. Jiraiya could be a bit of a show-off and overconfident, but he wouldn't lie when it came to something like this. She listened carefully as Jiraiya told her about the three of Orochimaru's former subordinates that Naruto had somehow managed to earn the trust of and get to betray the snake Sannin.

Tsunade chuckled. Of course that blond idiot would manage this. He really was an amazing kid. She looked over at Naruto with a smile, thinking about how great a Hokage he would make because of his kindness and acceptance of everyone. In a way, he reminded her a lot of her grandfather. Both even had to deal with an Uchiha gone rogue.

"Jiraiya, what's your opinion of those three?"

"They're good kids, and I firmly believe that they'll stay at Naruto's side till the day they die."

Tsunade looked at Jiraiya, and the wheels in her head began to turn. She would have to think about it some more and fill out the necessary paperwork. Jiraiya and Naruto would probably stick around for a little bit anyway before heading back, so she'd have plenty of time to give it to her teammate.

Several minutes later, Inoichi's eyes snapped open, and he stood up. Then Naruto and Ruby's eyes opened, and Jiraiya and Tsunade waited with bated breath to see the results.

"We're back!" They shouted joyously, practically jumping on Inoichi for helping them. Tsunade smiled, glad that that problem was fixed. She thanked Inoichi before he left, and then she tried to get Naruto to calm down for a bit.

"Naruto, why don't you go show your new friend around." Tsunade threw a glance over to Jiraiya. "I've got to talk with Jiraiya, and I don't want you interrupting because you were bored."

Naruto nodded with a smile and grabbed Ruby's hand, dragging her out the window. "Come on, Ruby! First stop, Ichiraku Ramen!"

Naruto led Ruby through bustling streets towards his favorite ramen restaurant in the entire world. As he pushed his way into the modest stall, Teuchi turned from whatever he was fixing.

"Welcome to Ich-" His eyes widened as he saw Naruto. "Naruto, you're back! I hardly recognize you now."

"Yeah, it's been a while, hasn't it?" Naruto sat down on one of the stools. "You already know what I want."

"Coming right up." Teuchi started preparing, before craning his neck to face Ruby. "And what about you?"

Ruby tilted her head, and Naruto translated. She thought for several long moments before finally deciding to have what Naruto was having.

"Where's Ayame?" Naruto questioned, looking over the counter to see how close the ramen was to completion.

"She's out on an errand, but should be back soon." Teuchi finished up the meals and placed the bowls in front of his two customers. "Enjoy!"

Naruto broke apart his chopsticks. "Thanks for the meal!"

Ruby looked at the ramen and broth, and she picked up several noodles with her chopsticks. There was no way this could be better than the stuff at A Simple Wo-

Behind the counter, Teuchi grinned as he saw his new customer's eyes go wide and she began eating at a rate that almost rivaled Naruto. Picking up the bowl and drinking the last of the broth down, Ruby let out a content sigh.

"So good!" She exclaimed at the same time as Naruto. He smiled and ordered several more bowls. Ruby tried telling him that she was full, but he didn't cancel the orders. So this was what Karin meant when she said that Naruto had an insatiable appetite when it came to ramen.

"I heard people talking, but I'm pleasantly surprised to see that you're back." Naruto turned at the sound of the familiar voice, and he practically leaped out of his seat to greet his silver-haired teacher.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto looked at the mask covering his teacher's face, plotting some way to get it off. "Long time no see."

"Welcome back." Kakashi took a seat and ordered a bowl. "You've grown up a lot since you left."

"Yeah, I'm actually taller than Sakura now!" Realization struck Naruto, and he laughed. "Hah, take that Tazuna! Can't call me a loudmouthed runt anymore."

Kakashi chuckled at Naruto's antics. The kid just couldn't let go of some things, even something as trivial as that.

Naruto introduced Ruby to Kakashi, and they were even able to converse a little. Naruto began telling his teacher about the training trip, his three teammates, some of the things he had learned, and about Beacon.

"Oh, and you'll never believe it! I managed to complete the Rasengan." Naruto enjoyed watching how wide Kakashi's eyes got. "Jiraiya told me about chakra natures and how the Rasengan was only an incomplete jutsu, so I began learning how to complete it. At first, I needed Jugo's help to add the wind chakra, but now I can do it with just the help of my clones."

Even though a mask covered his face, Kakashi's smile was evident just from his eyes. "I'm proud of you, Naruto."

"Well, I wouldn't have been able to do it without the stuff you taught me, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto slurped down another mouthful of noodles. "I know you weren't able to train us much before everything with Sasuke happened, but I wouldn't have asked for anyone else to be our teacher. Even if some of the things I learned was just from watching you fight. Remembering how you fought against Zabuza gave me ideas for training with Suigetsu."

Ruby watched in silence as the two talked, unable to understand a word they said other than the occasional name being spoken. Looking at the two of them, watching Kakashi smile as Naruto exclaimed something boisterously, Ruby was reminded of her own training under Uncle Qrow. She shifted her gaze to Crescent Rose, memories of the time and frustration she had poured into making it. She still remembered her first attempt at testing out the rifle portion, and it had blown up in her face.

Of course, her uncle had been there right away to help narrow down which part needed to be fixed without directly helping her. It was Qrow's specialty, being able to help someone while still letting them do almost all the work. Ruby hoped that he was doing okay on that super secret mission thing that she had overheard him talking about.

* * *

Reed sighed in annoyance as he put away his scroll. Curse that woman and her plan. He would have to hurry, and probably start traveling at night too just to make her happy. Why'd Cinder have to be so difficult? It wasn't his fault that he was running low on power. He had been having to use his ability absorption a lot recently because of what _SHE_ had been telling him to do.

"Woman problems?" A voice to his right asked, sounding just the slightest bit drunk.

"Ugh, you don't know the half of it." Reed turned to see who he was talking to, and saw a young man with dark gray hair drinking from a glass.

"Been there." The man looked over to the bartender and slapped some lien on the counter. "Oi! Get this guy some of the strongest stuff you got."

Reed was soon faced with a glass filled near to the brim. With a sigh, he picked it up and chugged it down. He quickly learned that he couldn't hold his liquor well, because he was quickly finding that his brain had stopped cooperating for some reason.

"Hah! Well, that must have been one heck of a problem." The mystery man remarked, chugging down his own glass as well. "Name's Qrow."

"Re-hic-ed." Reed slouched leaned over the counter and ordered another glass. He needed a little break from everything, and what better way than to get completely drunk. Consequences be darned, he deserved this. Soon he was drinking the night away and doing things that he was going to be thankful would be forgotten once he returned to being sober.

* * *

Meanwhile, back in Vale, Jugo had finished talking to both Rosaria and Professor Ozpin and was utterly exhausted. He began heading back to his dorm, still thinking about the conversation he had had with Karin earlier over their Scrolls. Had Suigetsu really gotten hired someplace, or was he just saying that? With a sigh, Jugo scratched the back of his head. He'd ask Suigetsu when he got back tomorrow.

As Jugo was walking down the hallway, he accidentally ended up bumping into someone. Jugo quickly apologized and helped the person get back on their feet.

"Ah, sorry about that," the person said, pushing platinum blonde hair out of his eyes. "I really should watch where I'm going."

Jugo looked at the boy, trying to remember if he had ever seen him before, but was unable to put a name to the person's face. "Are you a new student?"

"Hmm? No. To be honest, I snuck on campus to meet a student who goes here, Suigetsu Hozuki, have you heard of him?"

Jugo's eyebrows raised in surprise. "Yes, we're actually on the same team."

The kid's eyes lit up, making Jugo take a step back as the stranger brought out a newspaper about Team JNKS defeating Devourer. "Really? So you're part of that super strong team that took down that Devourer person?"

"...Yes," Jugo replied tentatively.

"Then can you please introduce me to Suigetsu. It would be my dream to meet a swordsman as great as him."

Jugo gave the boy an apologetic look. "Sorry, but Suigetsu's not around right now. Maybe another time."

The young boy sighed and clicked his tongue. "Ah, well. Sorry for wasting your time. Bye!"

Jugo watched the dark-skinned boy leave, and a single question arose in his mind. "Wait, how did he know that Suigetsu was a swordsman?"

* * *

 **I apologize for the wait! National Novel Writing Month kept me busy for a super long time, and I didn't really have time to work on this. But now that November has passed, I should be able to focus on this more.**

 **Anyway, just a few things before ending this chapter. The thing about Rosaria feeling more at ease around Jugo was actually inspired by a reviewer, whose name I can't remember for the life of me. But essentially, since Faunus do have those bestial traits, this makes them feel more at ease around Jugo who is pretty much in Sage mode 24-7.**

 **Second, despite what it may seem like, Kurama and Naruto are not going to be all buddy-buddy right away. Naruto does realize that there could be potentially more to the giant fuzzball, but if there is one thing we all know it's that Kurama is a stubborn tailed beast.**

 **As for Reed/Devourer, plans have changed for him. While I originally hadn't planned on him coming back until the end of the events at Volume 2, I decided that I wanted to grow and explore his character a little more due to some of my future plans being changed due to what has been revealed so far in volume 4. So he'll occasionally appear a few more times than I had originally planned.**

 **Also just in case people were wondering, as I never did explain it outright, Rosaria is an Ant Faunus. I also have some interesting plans for her character.**

 **Coming up next chapter, Ruby will meet some more of Naruto's friends, information about Reed/Devourer is revealed, Suigetsu goes shopping with Ren before getting interrupted, and Naruto finds out that all of his friends from Konoha have gotten promotions.**


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